Harrington to miss Wentworth

PADRAIG HARRINGTON has decided to skip the European Tour's flagship PGA Championship at Wentworth to boost his US Open chances.

The British Open champion feels he plays best when he has two events right before a major, and duly erased the May 22nd-25th event from his diary.

Instead, the world number 11 will play the Wales Open from May 29th to June 1st before teeing it up in the St Jude Championship in Memphis en route to the US Open at Torrey Pines near San Diego from June 12th-15th.

The decision not to make the trip to Wentworth suggests Harrington is convinced that playing two weeks in a row before a major is ideal preparation.

Last week he equalled his best finish in the US Masters with a share of fifth, immediately after warm-up events in New Orleans and Houston .

Assessing his schedule at the end of last year, Harrington said: "Absolutely ideal for me is two tournaments and then the major. The first tournament settles down my game and the second tournament is preparation for the third. As an amateur, I found out that I have to play before going into a tournament. It takes me more than one week to really get my focus right."

Harrington has three weeks off before the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, and then flies home for his Irish Open defence at Adare Manor from May 15th-18th.

The only surprise is that he has chosen the Ryder Cup Wales Open at Celtic Manor instead of the clashing Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Ohio.

Last November, Harrington said: "It would be in my best interest with regard to the US Open not to play Wentworth and to play Muirfield Village, which is more of a stadium golf course that would definitely get you much more into the flow of the US Open. The pace of the greens and pin positions would be similar."

Meanwhile, Frenchman Michael Lorenzo-Vera overcame blustery conditions and an attack of nerves to compile a three-under-par 69 to maintain his overnight one-stroke lead after yesterday's China Open second round.

Lorenzo-Vera dropped four shots but also fired seven birdies in rising afternoon winds at the CBD International course to complete an eight-under total of 136, one ahead of Ireland's Damien McGrane and Briton Richard Finch.

McGrane carded a bogey-free 69 that featured nine pars in a row at the start.

Things improved after the turn when he birdied the 10th and then eagled the par-five 13th.

"I made the most of my opportunities and kept as many bogeys off the card as possible. That's what you have to do out there, it's a difficult course," McGrane said.

"There are 36 holes left and whoever wins will have to play a lot of good golf. If I play very well I hope to be right up there. It is nice to be there now and gives me all the opportunities."

Graeme McDowell was the only other Irish player to survive the cut. McDowell, looking to follow his win in South Korea last month, endured another disappointing round.

The Northern Irishman carded a double bogey on the par-four 15th, and though he did make four birdies, bogeys on the 12th and fifth meant he finished even par for the day and is one over overall.

(Irish in bold, British unless stated, par 72)

136- M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 69.

137 - Damien McGrane (Ire) 68 69, R Finch 68 69.

138- O Wilson 72 66.

140- Z Scotland 68 72, M Brier (Aut) 71 69, S Griffiths 68 72, J Knutzon (US) 68 72.

141- RJ Derksen (Ned) 70 71, A Rizman (Mal) 69 72, J Luiten (Ned) 68 73, W Liang (Chn) 73 68.

142- S Walker 71 71, S Noh (Kor) 71 71, L Chao (Chn) 68 74, F Zanotti (Par) 71 71, M Brown (Nzl) 71 71.

143- A Lascuna (Phi) 72 71, T Vernon (Swi) 71 72, K Wu (Chn) 70 73, A Groom (Aus) 73 70, S Wakefield 72 71.

144- S Strange (Aus) 73 71, G Bhullar (Ind) 69 75, S Yates 72 72, J-F Lucquin (Fra) 72 72, M Tunnicliff 70 74, W T Lu (Tpe) 73 71.

145- G Ghei (Ind) 76 69, F Minoza (Phi) 73 72, P Whiteford 73 72, Graeme McDowell (N Ire) 73 72, D Howell 72 73, P Price 74 71, R Echenique (Arg) 69 76, R Davies 71 74, D Bransdon (Aus) 73 72.

146- J-B Gonnet (Fra) 72 74, M Ilonen (Fin) 75 71, R Fisher 74 72, S Manley 72 74, L Oosthuizen (Rsa) 74 72, C Rodiles (Spa) 72 74, J Bickerton 70 76, R Bain 73 73, M Mamat (Sin) 72 74, R Jacquelin (Fra) 75 71, M Both (Aus) 73 73, P Lawrie 71 75.

147- F Molinari (Ita) 75 72, C Cevaer (Fra) 73 74, P Meesawat (Tha) 71 76, S Kjeldsen (Den) 75 72, M Siem (Ger) 76 71, S Chowrasia (Ind) 74 73, D Vancsik (Arg) 73 74, S Barr (Aus) 73 74, G Flint (Aus) 73 74, S Little 74 73, M Fraser (Aus) 71 76.

148- WC Lu (Tha) 75 73, J Zapata (Arg) 70 78, D Frost (Rsa) 76 72, M Hu (Chn) 74 74, P Broadhurst 76 72, S Lee (Kor) 73 75, W-H Wu (Tpe) 73 75, B Lane 78 70, K Lin (Tai) 75 73.

Missed cut: 149- J-Filipe Lima (Por) 69 80, G Houston 76 73, S Hend (Aus) 75 74, C Suneson (Spa) 76 73, T Srirot (Tha) 74 75, D Im (US) 74 75, P Hedblom (Swe) 78 71. 150- M Wiegele (Aut) 74 76, R Gangjee (Ind) 77 73, D Gleeson (Aus) 76 74, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 75 75, O Fisher 74 76, G Simpson (Aus) 74 76, T Carolan (Aus) 77 73, K Horne (Rsa) 72 78, Z Fan (Chn) 74 76, P O'Malley (Aus) 74 76. 151- T Yuan (Chn) 80 71, W-T Lin (Tai) 73 78, S Wu (Chn) 76 75, P Edberg (Swe) 73 78, A Liu (Chn) 72 79, C Plaphol (Tha) 78 73, Peter Lawrie (Ire) 79 72, I Pyman 77 74, M J Huang (Chn) 76 75, S Dodd 75 76, C Nirat (Tha) 73 78, JY Suk (Kor) 73 78, A Que (Phi) 73 78, A Blyth (Aus) 77 74. 152- M Lundberg (Swe) 75 77, W Yang (Chn) 74 78, R Lee (Nzl) 74 78, L-W Zhang (Chn) 77 75, S Tan (Mal) 74 78, K Webber (US) 78 74, Gary Murphy (Ire) 75 77, I Steel (Mal) 72 80, H Yuan (Chn) 75 77, C Phadungsil (Tha) 79 73, S Hurd 76 76. 153- MA Carlsson (Swe) 73 80, B Saltus (US) 76 77, P Linhart (Spa) 76 77, Y-W Nam (Kor) 78 75, U Park (Aus) 75 78, S Khan 74 79. 154- T-C Wang (Tpe) 82 72, Z Moe (Kor) 76 78, A Coltart 76 78, T Wiratchant (Tha) 76 78, W-h Kong (Chn) 73 81, C Rodgers 78 76, A Wall 81 73, S Scahill (Nzl) 76 78, GM Liao (Chn) 76 78, J Donaldson 72 82, L Shang (Tpe) 78 76. 155- L Westerberg (Swe) 73 82, J Sandelin (Swe) 79 76, R Dinwiddie 75 80, T Whitehouse 76 79, T Oh (Kor) 78 77. 156- A Kang (US) 83 73, J Pagunsan (Phi) 74 82, H Buhrmann (Rsa) 76 80, W Zheng (Hkg) 79 77, C Tsai (Tai) 80 76, R McGowan 76 80, M Rominger (Swi) 80 76. 157- J Ye (Chn) 81 76, A Murakami (Phi) 81 76, D Chia (Mal) 77 80. 158- S Kapur (Ind) 79 79. 159- G Zhou (Chn) 80 79. 160- X Ye (Chn) 84 76. 161- A Johl (Ind) 80 81, C L Gu (Chn) 76 85, B Leong (Mal) 81 80. 163- Y-H Huang (Tpe) 86 77, Y Deng (Chn) 77 86, D Singh (Ind) 83 80. 167- J Hou (Chn) 87 80, X Chen (Chn) 82 85, R Shen (Chn) 82 85.