GOLF DIGEST: EUROPEAN TOUR:Pádraig Harrington is accustomed to contending for titles, but a messy bogey at the Singapore Open yesterday stirred his fighting spirit as the Dubliner struggled to make the cut.

Harrington finished second at the €3.5 million event a year ago but found himself three strokes outside the projected cut of two-over par halfway through his second round after finding the water on his approach to the par-five 18th, his ninth.

Angered by his poor judgment, the three-time major winner battled back to record four birdies on a bogey-free back nine to ensure he would be around for the weekend of an event that has suffered two lengthy weather delays in as many days.

"I was worried about missing the cut before I found the water, it was just a bad shot," Harrington told reporters after closing with a two-under 69 to sit eight strokes behind leader Daniel Chopra.

"That was just a bad shot. I was thinking about going for the green and didn't really pay attention to the lay-up.

"At the time, it seemed like a big mistake that cost me two shots, but it did motivate me. Who knows, maybe hitting it in the water made me make those four birdies coming home."

Harrington struggled to find his form around the tight par-71 Serapong Course hosting the co-sanctioned tournament, and a vital par save after the turn seemed to instigate his recovery from an almost hopeless position.

"The first 27 holes I wasn't comfortable with my game, made a few mistakes, didn't get any breaks, didn't make anything happen, didn't hole the putts and it was all going away from me," he added.

"I hit a poor shot into the first hole (his 10th) and chipped it to eight feet and holed that to stop going six over and all of a sudden I felt good about things.

"I played nicely coming in, hit a lot of nice shots and had conservative two-putts on the last couple of greens and then, gee whiz, it all looks quite easy all of a sudden."

Despite completing the task of making it to the weekend, Harrington feels a victory may be just a step too far but will continue to plug away in the hope of getting close to the leaders.

"Two shots isn't that much but it will probably take a couple of 65s at the weekend to get close."

Graeme McDowell played only two holes of his second round, but he picked up to birdies to move to two under par and tied for 20th to lead the Irish challenge.

US TOUR:The first round of the weather-hit Viking Classic in Madison, Mississippi, was postponed for a second successive day yesterday because of unplayable conditions.

Although the scheduled start was pushed back three hours to give the greenkeeping staff more time to prepare the course, officials decided no play was possible on the waterlogged layout.

Weather-permitting, the opening round at Annandale Golf Club will begin this morning.

Officials had said on Thursday the event was already heading for at least a Monday finish. The Viking Classic is the penultimate event of the season. There is no tournament next week.