Padraig Harrington shot a second-round, two-under 70 to move up to tied third after 36 holes at the Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie, while fellow Open Champion Darren Clarke showed the skills that made him a Champion Golfer of the Year to shoot a three-under in the heavy winds and climb to T6.
After an opening 71 that was relatively satisfactory for the Dubliner, he headed out for round two knowing that the course dubbed ‘Carnasty’ would play tough in the blustery afternoon and after first round leader Stephen Ames had stood firm with a level-par round in the morning, knew that hanging in would be the order of the day.
Two birdies and two bogeys on the outward nine saw him turn at level par, but he’d pick up birdies on 13 and 14 saw him climb the leaderboard and were his birdie putts on 17 and 18 to have a couple of rolls extra, he’d have found himself two shots better off as they stopped short in the heart.
“It was hard to free up out there,” Harrington said afterwards. I don’t know if it was the conditions or just me, but of course, I wouldn’t be disappointed. Maybe around the turn 9, 10, 11, 12, I didn’t score very well there., missing the fairway and 10 and 11 were two easy pins so, you know, might have left a few out there.
“But overall, yeah, two-under-par, I would have taken that on the first tee going out.”
It’s been a war of attrition over the opening 36 holes with many big names struggling, including defending champion Alex Cejka who sits on +3, nine off the lead.
“You know, I was just saying to Ronan [Flood, Harrington’s caddie], like we’ve only played 36 holes, it kind of feels like we’ve done 72 at this stage,” Harrington said.
“It’s been a tough 36 holes with that weather and wind and you’ve got to always be on and I’m sure it’s gonna be another 36 of tough mental fortitude to come.”
Still, at three shots back, Harrington will either be in the penultimate grouping if it’s two-balls on Saturday or in the final group if it’s three-balls, so he knows he’s every chance of getting his hands on the Senior Open trophy for the first time.
“It’s where I wanna be,” he said. “The last two years I got really close but I started poorly coming in off the majors [The Open Championships].
“I was tired, I think obviously I’ve started a lot better this time around, but still at the end of the day, you’re gonna have to play well over the weekend. You’re gonna have to shoot the scores and you’re gonna have to overcome some of the demons I have out there.”
There were few demons on show for Clarke, though they must’ve been bubbling under the surface when he bogeyed his opening two holes to move to +4 and had the cutline looming large in the rearview mirror.
From there on, however, it was vintage stuff from the 2011 Open Champion and 2022 Senior Open winner. Five birdies, including one on the 18th, saw him turn things round and get into the house at -1, just five off the lead and he’ll be hoping that the winds continue to blow as his shot making ability came to the fore.
Peter Lawrie’s maiden Senior major appearance didn’t go quite the way he’d planned on day two as he followed his opening one-under with a six-over 78 but he’s still safely through to the weekend alongside Cameron Clark in a tie for 34th.
Ballymena man Clark, who has been based at England’s Moor Hall Golf Club for over 20 years, recovered from a rocky start to play his final 11 holes in one-under and the 75 means he gets to see weekend action.
Paul McGinley won’t however, as the Dubliner’s lack of competitive reps proved telling on the difficult Scottish links and he’ll switch hats over the weekend and resume his analyst role.
Korea’s K.J. Choi leads on -6 despite a bogey finish after having a wedge in hand for his approach to 18, and he’s two clear of Ames, with Harrington and Australian Richard Green a shot further back in third.
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