Pádraig Harrington is back at the business end of the leaderboard as the 2027 Ryder Cup Vice-Captain joins Stewart Cink and Rory Sabbatini in a tie for the lead as 13-under at The Els Club Vilamoura.
Harrington, whose last DP World Tour win came at the nearby Dom Pedro Victoria Course back in 2016, got off to a hot start on Saturday, beginning his second round with an eagle at the par-5 first.
Harrington added two birdies to his card at the fifth and eighth as he took the turn at four-under. Podge’s back nine was more of the same as he kicked it off with a birdie at the 11th, before adding another at the 15th.
It’s always hard to win when Harrington is playing his best and the final hole on Saturday proved that he won’t be an easy man to keep down. Trailing the lead by one, Harrington drained a long range putt to join Cink at the top to cap off a bogey free seven-under round.
Harrington spoke on Friday about the importance of scoring at the par-5s. He played them five-under on Saturday.
“There’s obviously chances on the par 5s and you can build up a good score on those holes as long as you don’t give it away on other holes,” he explained. “There’s plenty of the tougher holes out there that you’re happy to play to the middle of the green and make your par knowing that there’s other holes that you can make your birdies on. It could all change tomorrow in the last round, who knows, but at the moment the strategy would be certain holes.
“If you told me I’m going to par 10, 16 and 17 tomorrow, maybe a couple other holes, I’d be feeling like a good score, but nobody gives you anything in golf so you’ve just got to go out there and do it.”
Harrington has one win this season which came at the start of the month, winning the U.S. Senior Open Championship but a win on Sunday would continue his streak of five straight seasons with at least two wins in each.
Stewart Cink held the clubhouse lead before Harrington came knocking and the Charles Schwab Cup leader isn’t messing around as he posted an eight-under-par 64 on Saturday. Cink’s intentful round saw five birdies and two eagles.
Slovakia’s Sabbatini made five birdies and an eagle as he posted a six-under-par second round. The Champions TOUR rookie would have held the solo lead had it not been for a bogey at the par-3 17th.
Darren Clarke managed to find some form as he put the disappointment of Friday’s round behind him to shoot a four-under-par 68. Starting his day on the back nine, Clarke made four birdies in six holes as he sits T22 at five-under heading into the final day.
Zach Johnson holds solo fourth at 12-under, followed by Tim O’Neal and Mikael Lundberg who occupy T5 at 10-under.
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