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Friday
Sep112009

Harrington takes scenic route to second 68

Writing from Lemont, Ill.
Friday, September 11, 2009

Padraig Harrington had not made a bogey at Cog Hill in his first 35 holes. He'd played 41 holes without a bogey going back to Monday's final round at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Then his driver connected with his ball on Dubsdread's 18th tee. The ball sailed as wide to the right as a ball can sail and not end up on Cog Hill's No. 3 course, caroming about in the concrete yard of Ken Lapp's maintenance facility.

"So far right it's untrue," Harrington quipped.

Harrington looked in a bush, walked around buildings to search among mowers, and did everything but climb on the roof. He found nothing, and went to the fairway to play his provisional drive, which he had crushed 347 yards. A sand wedge to 18 feet followed, and Harrington sank that for an all-Irish bogey.

That 5 on the par 4 last left Harrington grinning, only as someone who has avoided double-bogey and escaped with a second 3-under-par 68 for 6-under-par 136 after two rounds can grin.

"I would like to tell you that the two 68s were totally orthodox, and it was fairways and greens, and it seems like that with 10 birdies and one bogey," Harrington said, awarding himself three bonus birds. "At times I struggled a little bit. At times I played really well. There were a lot of contrasts out there."

Harrington's hit 11 of a possible 28 fairways through two rounds, and 24 of 36 greens in regulation. He's been Mr. Par Save so far this week, doing so with a deft touch around the greens.

Friday on the par-4 fifth, for instance, Harrington was inches short of the greenside left bunker than guarded a pernicious pin placement. His only option to get the ball close was a lob wedge. After waiting for a wandering marshal to mark himself, Harrington played the lob. It went as high as it went far, hit close to the cup, and settled down seven feet from the hole. He sank that for a brilliant par.

But why the errant tee game? Settle in for the answer.

"I'm very peculiar when it comes to driving ranges," Harrington said. "The angle of the range can determine how I swing the golf club. I went to the French Open swinging the club well at home on a Monday, flew in, and on Tuesday I hit the golf ball the worst I've ever hit it in my life."

Fast forward to last week at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass.

"I really lost my confidence on the range, whatever way the angle of the range was," Harrington said. "To be honest, I'm back there again this week. I'm just not trusting it whatsoever. And these things creep in. I don't have that problem (with the range) this week, but I'm just following a little bit of baggage from last week into this week."

Zach attack

Zach Johnson, the pride of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, went about his business quietly on Friday, and also went about it effectively. By the time he was finished, Johnson had scored 6-under-par 65 and climbed into a tie for eighth place at 8-under-par 138, a far cry above the tie for 47th he was in at the start of the day.

Johnson, who started on the back nine, was still at 2-over after five holes, but birdied the par-5 15th and par-4 17th to turn at even par. Then the real fun began, with a birdies on Nos. 1, 5, 7 and 9, the last a 21-footer to post, along with John Rollins, the best round of the day. Rollins is also at 8-under 138, and played in even more obscurity.

He was paired with Jason Day and Pat Perez, though those who watched the trio were treated to a remarkable par save by Perez, who blew his drive on the par-4 seventh hole into the trees on the left – the outside – of the dogleg right, clipped a branch with his recovery, and still managed to get up-and-down from short of the green on the hole.

Statistic of the Day

Tiger Woods has won 32 of the 39 PGA Tour tournaments he's led or co-led after 36 holes. That includes eight of the nine majors he's paced after two rounds. Woods is two for two in the Western Open, having been tied with Stuart Appleby after 36 holes in 1999, and leading David Toms by a stroke in 2003.

Dubsdread wins again

With 29 players under par and another five at par after 36 holes, it appears the pros are beating the refurbished Dubsdread layout. In fact, the course is slightly ahead. Friday's scoring average for the 68 players left in the field was 71.029 strokes, just over the par of 71, on a day with a slight wind from the east and 78-degree temperatures. The two-round average is 71.241.

Thirty-two players broke par and another seven matched par in the second round proper.

Around Dubsdread

Justin Leonard eagled the par-5 15th hole, the only 3 recorded on the hole so far. It wasn't your standard issue 3 on a par 5, either. Leonard was 107 yards out after his second shot, having faded his tee shot into the right rough, where acres of trees are in the way. But his wedge found the bottom of the cup, and he followed that 3 with a birdie 3 on the par-4 16th, keys to a 2-under 69 and even par 142 after 36 holes. … In memory of those killed on the Al Qaeda Attack of Sept. 11, 2001, flags at Cog Hill were at half staff and walking scorers all carried miniature American flags. … The second round gallery estimate of 25,000 pushed the two-day total to 43,500, ahead of the 28,000 after two rounds two years ago. … Saturday's first tee time, 7:30 a.m., features a pair of long hitters, Davis Love III, the longest driver on Tour when he appeared some two decades ago, and J.B. Holmes, the basher who broke into the pro ranks in 2007. U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover and PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang are next, at 7:39 a.m., while Masters champion Angel Cabrera is paired with Nathan Green at 8:06 a.m., and British Open champion Stewart Cink is matched with Steve Stricker at 8:33 a.m. … NBC's coverage commences at 2 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday.

– Tim Cronin

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