Fighting, right to the end; Pádraig Harrington endured a tough old day at the office in the second round of the Portugal Masters and, yet, finished up with the broadest of smiles and a raised hand to the crowds after sinking a huge putt on the 18th green at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course in Vilamoura to at least end on a high note.
As Italy’s Nino Bertasio added a 69 to his opening 61 for a midway total of 12-under-par 130 to take a two stroke lead into the weekend in his quest for a maiden tour win, it was a rather tougher outing for Harrington who laboured to a second round 72 for 139 which saw the Dubliner slip down to tied-30th.
Harrington started strongly with a birdie on the Par four fourth hole but missed the green with his approach to the 218 yards Par three sixth and, from a poor lie, could only get his chip to 12 feet which he missed. Another bogey followed on the Par four ninth and, then, after a birdie on the Par five 12th, he dropped another shot on the 15th before finally finding something to smile about with his 60 feet putt from off the green on the closing hole.
“Pure hit and hope into a very strong setting sun,” is how an honest Harrington described the putt.
Jonathan Caldwell also survived the cut as he added a 71 to his first round 69 for a midway total of 140 (in tied-37th) but Cormac Sharvin’s latest fight to hang onto his tour card proved a step too far as he shot a 72 for 148 (in tied-91st) as he missed the cut.
Sharvin will have one final chance to retain his full status at next week’s Dubai Championship, the penultimate event of the season before the leading 50 players earn an exemption into the DP World Tour Championship.
Harrington and Caldwell have making that top-50 who qualify for the Tour Championship as their priority, both with work to do, but at least with the weekend’s final two rounds to make some inroads in their respective quests to move up the Race to Dubai order of merit.
Bertasio, at 33, has yet to win on the European Tour and assumed the 36-hole lead after a round of three birdies and a lone bogey (at the 15th, his sixth hole, where he almost drove the green but was let down by his short game).
“I couldn’t expect anything similar (to the first round),” admitted Bertasio. “I didn’t make many putts, the greens were a bit bumpy towards the end. I didn’t make too much out there but I will take it. It was (challenging to stay in the present), I’m not going to lie. There were so many messages and a lot on social media (after the opening 61). It’s a good second round and (from now) it’s basically a new tournament, so I am going to enjoy it.”
Bertasio held a two stroke lead through 36 holes over a quartet of players which featured Thomas Pieters, Lucas Bjerregaard, Adri Arnaus and Matthieu Pavon.
In the World Wide Technology at Mayakoba Championship in Mexico on the PGA Tour, defending champion Viktor Hovland and local favourite Carlos Ortiz claimed the clubhouse lead on 10-under-par 132 after each shot second rounds of 65.
However, 22-year-old American Matthew Wolff - seeking a second tour win to add to his 3M Open success in 2019 - continued his strong recent form to move into the on course lead, as he took a grip on the tournament in being five-under on his second round score card through 13 holes and getting to 15-under for the tournament (five clear of Ortiz and Hovland at that point).
Séamus Power - who started on the 10th - had two birdies on his front nine, at the 13th and 17th, to turn in 33 as he moved to five-under for the tournament through 13 holes of his second round.
But Graeme McDowell (two-under for the tournament through 13 holes of his second round) and Shane Lowry (level for the tournament through 14 holes of his second round) were on the wrong side of the cutline.
Second round scores & totals in the European Tour Portugal Masters (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 71):
(a) denotes amateurs:
130 Nino Bertasio (Ita) 61 69
132 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 67 65, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 68 64, Adria Arnaus (Spa) 65 67, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 68 64
133 Callum Shinkwin 67 66
134 Sam Horsfield 68 66
135 Richard Bland 70 65, Grant Forrest 68 67, Oliver Wilson 68 67, Gavin Green (Mal) 66 69
136 Min-Woo Lee (Aus) 68 68, Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den) 67 69, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 69 67, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 69 67, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 67 69, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 69 67, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 70 66
137 Stephen Gallacher 69 68, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 71 66, Marcus Armitage 68 69, Pep Angles (Spa) 68 69, Sean Crocker (USA) 70 67
138 Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 67 71, Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 69, Ross Fisher 71 67, David Horsey 70 68, Jack Senior 71 67, Matthew Jordan 70 68
139 Steven Brown 68 71, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 70 69, Romain Langasque (Fra) 71 68, Padraig Harrington 67 72, Jordan Smith 72 67, Richie Ramsay 70 69, Ricardo Santos (Por) 70 69
140 Niklas Lemke (Swe) 72 68, Chris Wood 71 69, Victor Perez (Fra) 72 68, Jonathan Caldwell 69 71, John Catlin (USA) 70 70, Robert MacIntyre 70 70, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 68 72, Andrew Johnston 72 68, Jamie Donaldson 73 67, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 69, Vitor Lopes (Por) 71 69, Tomas Gouveia (Por) 71 69
141 Thorbjoern Olesen (Den) 72 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 71, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 71, Andy Sullivan 70 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 69 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 69, Justin Walters (Rsa) 71 70, Ashley Chesters 75 66, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 70 71, Marc Warren 74 67
142 Wil Besseling (Ned) 68 74, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 69 73, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 68 74, Ignacio Elvira (Spa) 72 70, David Law 68 74, Scott Jamieson 71 71, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 70 72
The following players missed the Cut:
143 Richard McEvoy 73 70, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 72 71, Graeme Storm 74 69, Laurie Canter 70 73, Julian Suri (USA) 71 72, Oliver Fisher 70 73, Robert Rock 73 70, Robin Roussel (Fra) 73 70
144 Joost Luiten (Ned) 72 72, Daniel Gavins 72 72, Renato Paratore (Ita) 72 72, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 71 73, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 74, Jack Singh-Brar 72 72, Oliver Farr 74 70
145 Connor Syme 73 72, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 70 75, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 72 73, Chris Paisley 71 74, David Drysdale 72 73
146 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 72 74, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 74 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 75
147 Sebastian Garcia (Spa) 74 73, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 73 74
148 Jorge Campillo (Spa) 79 69, Matt Wallace 72 76, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 75 73, Joel Stalter (Fra) 76 72, Cormac Sharvin 76 72, James du Preez (Rsa) 72 76
149 Eddie Pepperell 73 76
150 Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 76 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 77
151 Zander Lombard (Rsa) 73 78, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 76 75
152 Scott Hend (Aus) 75 77, David Howell 75 77
162 (a) Pedro Neves (Por) 78 84
