Padraig Harrington moved to within a shot of the overnight leader John Daly after a blistering run over the opening six holes of his third round in the BMW International Open in Germany today.
Harrintgon started the day on 12-under, five shots adrift of Daly’s halfway target, but a run of three birdies from the third followed by an eagle three at the sixth moved the Dubliner to 17-under and into second on his own.
Daly, in search of his first win since winning the Open at St Andrews in 1995, was in no mood to surrender the lead he had so efficiently built with consecutive opening rounds of 63 and 64. He carded one birdie of his own at the third to lead on 18-under after five holes.
Thomas Levet was third on 16-under with just one hole remaining but of greater interest was the continued advances Jose Maria Olazabal was making in the group tied for fourth as he attempts to qualify for his seventh Ryder Cup.
The Spaniard needs to win in Germany to qualify, anything less and it is unlikely he would be one of Sam Torrance’s wild cards picks. Torrance has already told Sergio Garcia he would be playing and the other pick is expected to go to Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik.
Olazabal could be one of the considerations if Garcia was to win and play his way into the top 10 but at eight-under after eight holes - two over today - that now seems unlikely.
Ollie’s position was greatly enhanced by a course record equalling 62 yesterday and birdies at the fifth and sixth moved him to 14-under alongside two Swedes, Fredrik Jacobsen and Christopher Hannell and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn.
Paul McGinley, the only other Irishman in the field, was 11-under after 14 holes and three-under for his round today. Like Bernhard Langer, the Dubliner sealed his place on the European team by simply making the cut. Anything more at this stage is a bonus.