Padraig Harrington weighs up the good and the bad after making ...
Padraig Harrington was left juggling mixed emotions after carding a two-over par 73 on the second day of The Open at Royal Troon.
On the one hand, his three-over total will be enough to see him stay the weekend at a course where that cut line has gone from three to five-over as the course is buffeted by strengthening winds the more the day goes on.
On the other is a regret that a generally encouraging two rounds of golf have been hampered by a cold putter that might have pushed him further up the charts and into position in a tournament that is likely to remain wide open deep into the weekend.
The three-time major champion has been more than happy with his tee to green work over the course of the first two days although he did feel as if he “hit a wall” after a bad double bogey at the 6th and struggled to gather himself through to the 14th.
His putting, so good coming to Ayrshire this week, has been the main issue and he couldn’t recall landing one of any significant distance and the mental effect of all that has been to make him even more tentative with the blade.
That golf is played mostly between the ears was just as apparent in how he dealt with wider concerns. Starting the day at one-over, he fell away to +4 at one point and a mark that, at the time, was one outside the cut line.
That cliff made him tread cautiously.
“Yeah, cuts are always a nasty thing. Definitely if there was no cut line, I would have been a couple of shots better. You do start thinking about… And I shouldn't have. Like, I could have gotten myself under-par for this tournament.
“It's only four shots back, and it looks like the good side of the draw would be doing okay. Now it's a bit of an also-ran. Like I said, just go out there and try to find some form on the weekend and bring it into next week.”
Next week is the Senior Open at Carnoustie, a tournament he has yet to win but, while he goes into this weekend disappointed at not being positioned for a run at the higher parts of the leaderboard, he is encouraged by his game in general.
“Last week I was struggling,” he said of the Scottish open where he missed the cut. “I fell way off the mark last week. I suppose, when you miss cuts, that's what happens. You just feel like, ‘I'm not with it’. This week I'm really disappointed to be three-over par.
“If I had a good week in the greens, I'd be a lot better. Yeah, I was very capable so far this week. I am a lot more bullish about my game. Last week I was kind of struggling in my head and saying, what am I doing here? This week I know why I'm here.”
