Harrington six adrift of leading trio after battling round in Ras

Ronan MacNamara
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Padraig Harrington (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Ronan MacNamara

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Pádraig Harrington leads the Irish charge heading into the weekend at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship as Tom McKibbin also made the cut.

Harrington backed up an opening 69 with a hard fought two-under 70 to lie on five-under-par, six shots adrift of leaders Ramus Hojgaard, Adrian Meronk and David Law.

The three-time major winner played the course from back to front, picking up birdies on 14 and 16 before dropping a careless shot on the par-5 18th.

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A second bogey on a par five came on the third but the 51-year-old put aside his frustrations to post birdies on the fifth and sixth.

Harrington lies in a share of 23rd place.

Also joining Harrington for some weekend golf is McKibbin who arrested a run of successive missed cuts with a clutch chip-in birdie on the 18th to make the cut on three-under.

Sitting on the cut mark at two-under playing the par-5 18th, McKibbin pulled his tee shot left into the native area. Having drawn a poor lie, he was only able to advance the ball 55 yards meaning his third shot from the rough with a wood was from 226 yards.

The 20-year-old missed the green right and knowing he could not afford to drop a shot, he made the afternoon wait much easier on himself as he pitched in for a closing birdie to move to three-under and sign for a 71.

Gary Hurley and John Murphy both missed the cut on three-over-par.

At the top Ramus Hojgaard can make history over the weekend with a win. The Hojgaard twins can become the first brothers to win the same event on the DP World Tour.

“It would be pretty cool but there’s still a lot of golf to be played.

“It would be cool to make some history.”

Hojgaard opened with three birdies in five holes before three on the bounce from the 12th catapulted him into contention. He was disappointed with his finish after a dropped shot on 16 and a par on 18 despite being green side in two on the par-5.

The Dane is alongside Irish Open champion Meronk and Scotland’s Law on -11 after a 67 with overnight leader Ryo Hisatsune in the chasing pack on ten-under.

Law carded a bogey-free 64 that included a stretch of eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie from the 14th while Meronk returned to form with a blemish free 65 courtesy of four birdies in a row on the back nine.

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