Padraig Harrington is on track to become the first home winner of the Irish Open in 25 years after a superb 68 at a windswept Adare Manor.

Trees were blown down as winds gusted to 45mph but Harrington carded five birdies and one bogey to take a one-shot lead over England's Simon Wakefield, Swede Joakim Backstrom and Argentina's Andres Romero on a day when only two players broke 70.

The 35-year-old Dubliner, looking to become the first Irish winner since John O'Leary in 1982, admits winning his national open is second in importance only to the four major championships.

But the world number 12 knows the pressure will be on as an expectant home crowd looks to him to justify his status as the pre-tournament favourite.

"I think I will treat it as any other round of golf. I'm not going out there thinking 'I'm in the last group in the Irish Open'," said Harrington, last year's European number one.

"I'm going to go out there thinking I'm playing golf to the best of my ability and that's it.

"How I approach it will be the same as any other round of golf, whether I was at the top or the bottom of the order.

"There is no point in adding extra pressure with it being the Irish Open. It's not my job to build it up. I'm going to play it down in my own head.

"It means a lot to me so I'll be out there tomorrow and the next day in a very important situation but I'll be absolutely trying to control my emotions and all that sort of stuff so I feel comfortable on the golf course.

"I want to win this very badly, there's no question about that, but it would be a great achievement if I could go out over the next two days knowing that, and yet play and behave like it's a regular event and a normal day out."

Tees were brought forward for the second day in succession — this time by 321 yards — and Harrington took advantage with three birdies in his first seven holes after starting from the 10th.

He dropped his first shot of the day on the 18th but bounced straight back with a birdie on the first and missed further birdies chances on the seventh and ninth from five and three feet respectively.

"I played really well and created a lot of chances," added Harrington. "I didn't get myself into any bother all day and it's hard to believe I shot 68 and I'm thinking of what might have been.

"The course is set up very reasonably considering the conditions and on every hole I was thinking about trying to make birdie, rather than yesterday when it was trying to make par.

"I prefer a course like this, the wind doesn't bother me and I know I have an advantage in that sort of weather.

"You were worried about getting the ball up in the wind because it could go anywhere, but if you hit a good tee shot you at least had a decent club into the green.

"The course is actually very sheltered, there are few holes where you get the full brunt of the wind. If we were playing any other golf course we'd all be sat in the clubhouse looking out at it. It's very playable in extreme weather."

It is doubtful everyone agreed with Harrington's assessment of the course however, Jeev Milkha Singh crashing to an 82 and overnight joint leader Simon Dyson struggling to a 78.

That was 10 shots worse than his first round and left the former Walker Cup star on two over par, six off the lead.

Ireland's Damian Mooney did improve by 15 shots on his first round, but scores of 92 and 77 were hardly anything to write home about.

England's Lee Westwood, seeking back-to-back victories after his win in Spain on Sunday, dropped out of contention after adding a 77 to his opening 71.