PADRAIG Harrington had a rollercoaster second day at The Senior Open at Royal Porthcawl today, but a three-under round of 68 put him back on the fringes of contention heading into the weekend.
The pre-tournament favourite slumped to a four-over 75 on the opening day, but fired six birdies and an eagle today to move up to a share of 15th, five shots off the pace set by the halfway leader, Steven Alker of New Zealand.
However, Harrington couldn’t completely rid himself of the mistakes that blighted his first day, with double-bogeys coming at both the ninth and 16th holes yesterday.
Defending champion Darren Clarke is through to the weekend, but the Dungannon man is well off the pace after adding a 74 to his opening 73 to sit at five-over heading into the weekend.
Clarke carded four dropped shots and only one birdie, at the 17th, while Damian Mooney also made it through to the final two days at five-over, with bogeys at his last three holes seeing him drop into a share of 59th.
Meanwhile, Leona Maguire lost ground on the field on day two of the Amundi Evian Championship in France earlier. The Cavan girl had started brightly with a round of one-under 70 on Thursday, but could manage only a 73 yesterday to slip back to one-over for the tournament, eight shots off the lead held by France’s Celine Boutier.
The home favourite shot a two-under-par second round 69 to claim a one-stroke advantage over Patty Tavatanakit and Yuso Saso.
Jordanstown’s Stephanie Meadow could only manage a five-over round of 76 to slip to three-over for the event, just a shot inside the cut mark.
