Padraig Harrington carded four bogeys in a disastrous front nine to end any hopes of winning the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta.< Padraig Harrington carded four bogeys in a disastrous front nine to end any hopes of winning the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta.
Lying joint sixth overnight, five shots behind leader Retief Goosen, Harrington's last competitive round before the Masters was not the confidence-booster he was looking for.
By the time he had reached the ninth tee he had already fallen to joint 19th and the title battle looked set to be fought out instead by US Open champion Goosen and world number two Phil Mickelson.
Harrington, who had been joint third with Goosen after opening rounds of 69 and 65, bunkered his approach to the first in the blustery conditions.
The Dubliner’s recovery skidded 10 feet past and missing the putt was the start of a slippery slope which saw him also drop shots at the fifth, seventh and eighth.
Not that Goosen's opening was convincing. Far from it, in fact. The South African, European number one last season and seeking his third win of the season worldwide, three-putted the first and then, finding sand at the 144-yard second, double-bogeyed it.
Mickelson capitalised, going from two behind to two ahead with a nine-foot birdie putt on the first and a fine recovery from the same bunker Goosen was in on the second. But he turned it around again at the long fourth.
Mickelson, bunkered again and then wildly left with his second, took six, whereas Goosen chipped into the hole from 100 feet for an eagle three.
When he then birdied the 569-yard sixth he was two in front once more, 14 under par to Mickelson's 12 under, with Dane Thomas Bjorn two further back in third after bogeys at the first and seventh, a birdie at the sixth and a three-putt par on the fourth.
Sweden's Jesper Parnevik moved up to joint fifth on nine under with four birdies in seven holes starting at the sixth, but a triple-bogey seven on the 389-yard third dented Colin Montgomerie's morale and English pair Lee Westwood and Luke Donald were finding it hard work too.
Montgomerie, seven under when he resumed, turned in 39 and had fallen from 13th to 21st, while with four to play Westwood was also three over for the day and level par for the tournament.
Donald, the former Walker Cup star who has already had two top-20 finishes in his rookie season on the US Tour, managed only 40 for the front nine to be level par as well.
He was in good company, though. As well as Harrington, Vijay Singh, runaway winner of the Houston Open last week, could also do no better than 40 going out and eventually signed for a 75 and one-over final aggregate. -PA