Padraig Harrington heading for Europe after FedEx exit

Published on Sunday 5 September 2010 18:47

PADRAIG Harrington plans to add a European Tour event to his schedule before next month's Ryder Cup after missing the cut at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Saturday.

The Irishman's FedExCup campaign almost certainly ended when he missed the cut by one stroke after carding a second-round 68 for 142, level par.

Barring an unlikely set of circumstances Harrington will not advance to the third event of the play-off series, this week's BMW Championship outside Chicago.

"I'll definitely play before now and the Ryder Cup," he told reporters. "What are the three (European tournaments]? I don't even know, I'll have to have a look.

"As much as I'd like a break, and a break wouldn't do me any harm, I still want to be competitive going into the Ryder Cup. You can't get the sort of competition you want unless you're on a golf course in tournament play."

The three European Tour events before the Ryder Cup are the Dutch Open, Austrian Open and Vivendi Cup in Paris.

Triple major champion Harrington is, along with Italian Edoardo Molinari and England's Luke Donald, a wildcard pick for the European team that will meet the US holders at Celtic Manor in Wales from 1-3 October.

The 39-year-old has not won a tournament since 2008 but said his form was better than recent scores indicated. "The game's fine and solid," said Harrington. "I'm just not letting it happen."

Donald was two shots off the lead and Tiger Woods completed his first bogey-free round since returning to golf on day two in Boston.

Donald fired five birdies in a four-under-par 67 for a 10-under total, within striking range of 36-hole leaders Brandt Snedeker and Jason Day, who are 12 under for their two rounds.

After a succession of poor showings since ending his self-imposed exile from the game, Woods, who is hoping to earn a wild card spot in the US team tomorrow, may just be rediscovering some semblance of form in the nick of time to make the team for Celtic Manor.

"I figure if I play two good rounds and win the tournament, I should be all right," Woods said after shooting a six-under 65, one of the best rounds of the day, to move five under overall. "I'm still learning to put this thing together. I'm going to have off days."

Woods was not the only big name to score low on Saturday, 24 hours after the tournament felt some of the force of Hurricane Earl. Phil Mickelson sunk two monster birdies in a six-under 65 - his lowest round of the year - to move to eight under overall. Woods is the defending champion of the FedExCup play-off series, of which this event is the second part.

Scotland's Martin Laird, who finished second in the opening event, shot a second-round 69 in Boston to add to his opening 66.On seven-under for the tournament, he was lying inside the top 20, five behind Snedeker and Day.

Meanwhile, teenager Ryo Ishikawa won his eighth career title on Japan's professional tour with a play-off win at the Fujisankei Classic tournament yesterday.

The 18-year-old beat former high school teammate Shunsuke Sonoda on the fourth play-off hole after both players finished on nine-under-par 275 at Yamanashi's Fujizakura Country Club.

Defending champion Ishikawa two-putted for par on the 18th before Sonoda's short par putt lipped out to hand the teenager his second victory of the season.

"It was far more difficult than last year," said Ishikawa after becoming the first back-to-back winner of the event since Jumbo Ozaki 20 years ago. "I wanted to keep playing the play-off so it was kind of weird for it to end."

Ishikawa, who stormed to last year's title by five strokes, earned 22 million yen ($260,700) for his win to go top of Japan's order of merit.