GOLF:PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON may have just scraped into the FedEx playoffs but he took full advantage in New Jersey yesterday to move right up the leaderboard at The Barclays, which has been reduced to a 54-hole event due to safety concerns surrounding Hurricane Irene.
The Dubliner came back to the course early in the morning to complete his first round and picked up birdies at the 16th and 18th holes in a six-under-65.
Starting his second round from the 10th tee, he then birdied the 12th but slipped back to five under with back-to-back bogeys on the 13th and 14th.
His challenge came alive after he birdied the 18th for the second time in the space of a few hours, and he would make four more in his next six holes to move to 10 under.
He finished on that mark after bouncing back from a bogey at the seventh with another gain at the eighth as he signed for a 67 and a share of fourth position alongside Justin Rose and Aaron Baddeley, who had also completed 36 holes.
Matt Kuchar was the clubhouse leader on 14 under after he completed a first-round 63 in the morning and followed it up with a 65 in the afternoon. Dustin Johnson was a shot behind after adding a 63 to his opening round of 66 and he was later joined by Vijay Singh after he posted a 64.
Graeme McDowell made a vast improvement on his opening 72, with nine birdies and three bogeys in a second-round 65 leaving him on five under for the tournament.
Tied with Harrington at 10-under-par were Briton Justin Rose and Australian Aaron Baddeley. Rose shot a second-round 65 while Baddeley posted 66.
Rose, who shot a 65 for a share of third with Harrington, believes the tournament could turn into a wild shoot-out, but that depended on today’s conditions.
“If we are going to catch the edge of a front, it could be really windy, blustery, so the dynamic of it might change,” said Rose.
“There are still going to be birdies because it’s a shortish golf course, but there’s going to be a lot more mistakes.”
Harrington’s performance shot him up from 124th to a projected finish in the 50s on the FedEx standings, while McDowell was comfortably inside the top 100, the cut-off for next week’s Deutsche Bank tournament in Boston.
The players may want to take a detour away from the East Coast for a day or two, with the USPGA Tour cancelling tomorrow’s scheduled play as Irene is expected to hit the area later today and further saturate a course that is already soggy from more than a foot of rain last week and another drenching on Thursday.
“We weighed all the options available to us, and under normal circumstances, we would obviously prefer to complete 72 holes,” USPGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement.
“But these aren’t normal circumstances. We realise that ‘waiting it out’ until Hurricane Irene passes and trying to play golf on Monday or Tuesday would only add unnecessary strain to those who will be trying to help the community recover from whatever potential damage this storm causes.
“The safety of the community, our fans, players, sponsor guests, television partners and staff is of the utmost importance.”
Tournament director Slugger White confirmed that if the storms arrive earlier than expected today that the event would then have to revert to the 36-hole leaderboard to declare a winner.
