Pádraig battles to make cut

GOLF/EUROPEAN TOUR:PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON showed all the battling qualities he will require at Celtic Manor next week just to make the cut at the low-key Vivendi Trophy in Paris yesterday. The Ryder Cup wildcard is 11 shots off the lead at the halfway stage of the event as he battles against a cold putter.

Seven days before he tries to win his first Ryder Cup game since 2004, the Dubliner avoided what would have been a worrying early exit by the skin of his teeth after a second-round 74.

The three-time major champion is the only player in the world’s top 80 taking part, yet he needed three birdies in his last six holes to survive. He went out of bounds and triple-bogeyed the 12th, but five three-putts in the first 36 holes were the biggest cause for concern.

Harrington, who has fallen from third to 22nd in the rankings in the two years he has gone without a Tour win, stands two under par while England’s John Parry and Swede Jarmo Sandelin are already 13 under. “It wasn’t great,” admitted Harrington. “I had a couple of early three-puts again. I found the greens slow today and then got in-between clubs on the 12th and you can’t afford that.

“I made two terrible mental errors and took a triple bogey and a double bogey. When the scoring is good you have to make birdies. I made enough birdies but you have to keep those off the card, they do a lot of damage.

“I need to practise my putting and get that ready for next week. I can see that’s the weakest part of my game and that’s where my focus will be. That needs to be tidied up for next week. But I like the fact I played well when I had to. It’s always good when your back is to the wall, you have to perform and you do.”

Harrington was asked about his inclusion in Colin Montgomerie’s side at the expense of Paul Casey and Justin Rose, but was quick to play down the issue ahead of the clash against the USA. Casey was joint leader after the first round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta as the English golfer continued to challenge for the €8.5 million jackpot.

Told about Casey’s opening 66 Harrington said: “There’s not much I can do about the golf he’s playing, I genuinely hope he wins it, I certainly wouldn’t wish him to play bad golf, that wouldn’t make me play better. You can’t look at it like that, at the end of the day I’m going into the Ryder Cup next week. I’m looking forward to it. That’s all I can focus on, I can’t focus on whether Justin Rose or Paul Casey should have got picked, that’s just the way it is.”

Ryder Cup vice-captain Paul McGinley will also be in action over the weekend after a one-over-par 73 left him on three under for the tournament, the same mark as Gary Murphy, who shot level par in his second round.

Peter Lawrie and Simon Thornton both shot under par in their second rounds, but it wasn’t enough to make the cut. Lawrie carded five birdies in a two-under 70 that left him two shots above the cut on level par, while Thornton signed for a 69 that left him on one over.

Parry, a team-mate of Rory McIlroy in the 2007 Walker Cup, also led in Austria after two rounds last week, but fell back to 20th. That left the 23-year-old 116th on the money list – and only the top 115 keep their cards at the end of the season.

Parry and Sandelin, who has had to go back to the qualifying school twice since he played in the 1999 Ryder Cup with Harrington, go into the weekend three clear of England’s James Morrison, South African George Coetzee, Australian Richard Green and France’s Julien Guerrier.

Meanwhile, Montgomerie’s meticulous attention to detail in the build-up to the Ryder Cup has impressed his four vice-captains, Thomas Bjorn said. “Monty’s just thought of everything, and everything there is to know about everybody he knows,” said Dane Bjorn, who twice savoured Ryder Cup victory over the US as a player in 1997 and 2002.

“You just can’t ask a question or question something that he hasn’t thought about already,” Bjorn said.

“Bernhard (Langer) was that way and is one of the captains I personally liked and Monty’s the same because he knows everything about every member of the team.”