Singapore: Padraig Harrington is usually accustomed to contending for titles but a messy bogey at the Singapore Open on Friday stirred his fighting spirit as the Irishman struggled to make the cut.
Harrington finished second at the USD 5 million event a year ago but found himself three strokes outside the projected cut of two-over par halfway through his second round after finding the water on his approach to the par-five 18th (his ninth).
Angered by his poor judgement, the three-times major winner battled back to record four birdies on a bogey-free back nine to ensure he would be around for the weekend of an event that has suffered two lengthy weather delays in as many days.
"I was worried about missing the cut before I found the water, it was just a bad shot," Harrington told reporters after closing with a two-under 69 to sit eight strokes behind leader Daniel Chopra.
"That was just a bad shot. I was thinking about going for the green and didn't really pay attention to the lay-up.”
"At the time, it seemed like a big mistake that cost me two shots but it did motivate me. Who knows, maybe hitting it in the water made me make those four birdies coming home."
Par Save
Harrington struggled to find his form around the tight par-71 Serapong Course hosting the co-sanctioned tournament and a vital par save after the turn seemed to instigate his recovery from an almost hopeless position.
"The first 27 holes I wasn't comfortable with my game, made a few mistakes, didn't get any breaks, didn't make anything happen, didn't hole the putts and it was all going away from me," he added.
"I hit a poor shot into the first hole (his 10th) and chipped it to eight feet and holed that to stop going six over and all of a sudden I felt good about things.”
"I played nicely coming in -- hit a lot of nice shots and had conservative two putts on the last couple of greens and then, gee whiz, it all looks quite easy all of a sudden."
Despite completing the task of making it to the weekend, Harrington feels a victory maybe just a step too far but will continue to plug away in the hope of getting close to the leaders.
"I was actually thinking that if I could have picked up another couple of shots then I would have had a chance to catch the leaders in the third round," Harrington said.
"Two shots isn't that much but it will probably take a couple of 65s at the weekend to get close.”
"It's possible and if I keep playing the way that I did on my back nine today then I could definitely shoot two low numbers."
Bureau Report