Harrington stalls after hat-trick of bogeys

Padraig Harrington produced a mixed second round at the Shell Houston Open in Texas, but his three-under-par 69 ensured he remains in the hunt for victory.

The Irishman had looked set to move into a handy lead at the top of the leaderboard as, starting from the tenth, he recorded birdies at the 11th, 12th, 15th, 16th and 17th.

Harrington's only dropped shot on his opening nine holes had been at the 14th, but things took a turn for the worse as he ran up a hat-trick of bogeys from the second to drop back to just one under on the day.

However, an eagle at the par-5 eighth moved him to seven under for the tournament to leave him well inside the top 10.

Defending champion Anthony Kim had taken the clubhouse lead after a wild round of 64. The 2008 Ryder Cup star ended up with eight birdies and remarkably no dropped shots as he moved to eight under, where he was joined by Johnson Wagner (67) with a handful of the leading contenders still to play.

Overnight leader Jimmy Walker could not repeat the magic of his opening course-record equalling 63, a double bogey on the 11th leaving him two over on the day and part of the group at seven under.

Defending Masters champion Phil Mickelson and last year's runner-up Lee Westwood continued their preparations for Augusta with rounds of 70 and 72 respectively to leave them both at four-under.

European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal looked set to miss the cut as he lay six-over after three holes of his second round.