Golf - Portugal Masters:Padraig Harrington moved a step closer to a first title of the year after a brilliant round of 62 on the second day of the €3million Portugal Masters in Vilamoura. The Dubliner moved to 13 under par, just two behind joint leaders Francesco Molinari and Charl Schwartzel.
Starting the day on three under, Harrington produced a flawless round with five birdies on each nine.
The three-time major winner was faced with the daunting prospect of making up 12 shots after Molinari added a morning 66 to his opening 63.
Fifteen under par at halfway equalled the lowest total of the European Tour season, but despite the wind picking up just as he resumed Harrington is within touching distance.
The 38-year-old Dubliner even had a putt on the last to lower his all-time best round on the circuit, but on his own admission mishit it from 18 feet.
“Pity I didn’t give it a better run,” he said. “I played the tough holes really well and that gave me the opportunity to shoot a really good score. It could even have been the magic number.”
Nobody has ever managed a 59 in Europe.
From joint 32nd place overnight — his first thought was to make sure he made the cut — Harrington goes into the weekend in third spot.
Such has been the birdie barrage so far, though, that there was a chance Molinari would not even stay out in front on his own.
He was joined later when Schwartzel had a hat-trick of birdies from the 15th, but then came a closing bogey for a second successive 65.
Even though he felt uncomfortable with his putting Harrington turned in 31, but four successive birdies from the 14th turned it into a special round.
“I changed my putter, which put me off and I’ve not got my confidence back,” he said. “I spotted I was doing something I don’t normally do and that distracted the hell out of me. I’m also making a few mistakes here and there, but they didn’t cost me today.”
Earlier, Shane Lowry showed that he is getting a taste for life on tour as the Irish Open champion went storming up the leaderboard.
Last week Lowry gave an indication of his raw talent by signing for a second round 63 at the Madrid Masters.
And although is failed to build on that number over the weekend, it appears to have given him the confidence and belief he can compete at this level and today he signed for an impressive 65. At nine under, he is now six back.
After starting the round from the 10th Lowry quickly went under par with birdies at the 12th, 16th and 17th. However, a sour taste will have been left when much of the progress was undone by a double bogey at the 18th.
A setback, no question, but not enough to derail, as Lowry set about his business on his inward half at the Oceanico Victoria course in the Algarve.
His burst of form arrived with an eagle two at the 357yard par four second. From there the 22-year-old would add three birdies in a row to get to six-under for his round before the icing on the cake came with a closing birdie at the ninth.
A fine round, which added to his opening 70, moved the Clara professional inside the top 10th on nine-under.
Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin and Peter Lawrie also made strong progress to get to eight-under for the tournament while Darren Clarke was a shot further back.
European number one Rory McIlroy struggled to find the birdies and finished the day on five under.
Collated second round scores & totals
(Irish & Gbr unless stated,
Irishin bold par 72):
129Francesco Molinari (Ita) 63 66
130Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 65 65
131 Padraig Harrington69 62
132Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 64, Pablo Martin (Spa) 66 66
133Alastair Forsyth 65 68, Lee Westwood 66 67, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 68 65
134Simon Khan 66 68, Oliver Fisher 67 67
135Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 67, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 64, Johan Edfors (Swe) 69 66, Anthony Wall 68 67, Justin Rose 65 70, Stephen Dodd 71 64, Marc Warren 68 67, Shane Lowry70 65
136 Damien McGrane69 67, Gareth Maybin69 67, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 69, Ben Curtis (USA) 68 68, Peter Lawrie68 68, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 65, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 69 67, Tano Goya (Arg) 70 66, Miles Tunnicliff 68 68, Bradley Dredge 66 70
137Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 67 70, Oliver Wilson 67 70, Scott Drummond 68 69, Danny Willett 69 68, Darren Clarke69 68, Simon Dyson 70 67, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 67
138Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 68 70, Steve Webster 71 67, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 69 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 69, David Lynn 71 67, John Bickerton 69 69, Paul Broadhurst 70 68, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 68, Robert Rock 70 68, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 67
139Shiv Kapur (Ind) 69 70, Colin Montgomerie 68 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 66 73, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 70, Rory McIlroy69 70, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 67, Taco Remkes (Ned) 71 68, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 68, Paul McGinley70 69
140Anders Hansen (Den) 69 71, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 69, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 72 68, Paul Waring 69 71, Phillip Price 68 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 69, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 67, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 70, Gary Lockerbie 73 67, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 70, Shaun Micheel (USA) 70 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 69, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 71, Ross McGowan 69 71
The following players failed to make the cut
141Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 71 70, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 72 69, Simon Wakefield 71 70, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 67 74, Gary Murphy72 69, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 74 67, Jamie Donaldson 71 70, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 75 66, Gregory Havret (Fra) 68 73, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 71 70
142Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 70 72, Anton Haig (Rsa) 67 75, Ross Fisher 73 69, Robert Dinwiddie 71 71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 72, Paul Lawrie 69 73, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 68 74, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 70 72, Sam Little 73 69, Mark Foster 66 76
143Christian Nilsson (Swe) 72 71, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 71 72, Phillip Archer 71 72, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 75 68, Mark Brown (Nzl) 72 71, Lee Slattery 74 69
144Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 75 69, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 73 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 71 73, Antonio Rosado (Por) 70 74, Tiago Cruz (Por) 68 76, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 73 71, David Dixon 74 70, Ricardo Santos (Por) 70 74, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 75 69
145Jose Maria Joia (Por) 70 75, Brett Rumford (Aus) 73 72, David Drysdale 76 69, Graeme McDowell74 71, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 69 76, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 71 74
146Christian Cevaer (Fra) 74 72, David Howell 74 72, Barry Lane 75 71
147Richard Finch 72 75, Thomas Levet (Fra) 75 72
148Nuno Campino (Por) 74 74, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 76 72
149Hennie Otto (Rsa) 76 73, Antonio Sobrinho (Por) 72 77, Graeme Storm 77 72
151Peter O'Malley (Aus) 75 76
152Benn Barham 74 78
155Tiago Rodrigues (Por) 80 75, Kenneth Ferrie 79 76
