0
COLOGNE (Germany), Sept 13: Key European Ryder Cup player Padraig Harrington has suffered another injury setback just a fortnight before the match against the U.S. at the Belfry.
While his team mates Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood returned to form in the second round of the German Masters on Friday, Harrington was extremely concerned after a recurrence of a neck injury.
Despite firing a second round six-under-par 66, the Irishman, who is also battling a left ankle injury, revealed he had nearly pulled out of the tournament.
“This pain is on the right side (of my neck), whereas it was hurting on the left before,” said Harrington, the world number eight.
“I had a terrible night without a wink of sleep and I very nearly had to pull out of the tournament this morning.
“Last night I hit some shots on the range and it was a bit cold, so I guess I did it then.”
Harrington is convinced that too much practice is causing the injuries.
“On Tuesday I spent five or six hours on the range and hit about 20 baskets of balls,” he said.
He still lies very handily placed on nine under par, three behind leader Ian Woosnam who shot a 64 on Friday.
Montgomerie, meanwhile, showed no sign of his recent back problems on the way to a six-under-par 66, while Westwood fired a 67 to join his fellow Briton five strokes behind Woosnam.
Leading second round scores:
132 Ian Woosnam 68 64
133 Warren Bennett 67 66, Stephen Leaney (Australia) 64 69, Nick Dougherty 68 65
134 Mark Pilkington 65 69
135 Anthony Wall 70 65, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 69 66, Paul Casey 68 67, Retief Goosen (South Africa) 65 70, Gary Evans 67 68, David Carter 68 67
136 Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 67 69, Mathias Gronberg (Sweden) 67 69, Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands) 69 67, Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 71 65, Emanuele Canonica (Italy) 68 68, Alex Cejka (Germany) 68 68
137 Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 68 69, Lee Westwood 70 67, Colin Montgomerie 71 66, Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 67 70, Richard Bland 67 70
138 Miguel Angel Martin (Spain) 71 67, Jamie Donaldson 67 71, Bernhard Langer (Germany) 68 70, Bradley Dredge 69 69, Eduardo Romero (Argentina) 70 68, Richard Green (Australia) 71 67, Steve Webster 70 68
139 Anders Forsbrand (Sweden) 68 71, David Lynn 70 69, Patrik Sjoland (Sweden) 71 68, Henrik Bjornstad (Norway) 70 69, David Howell 70 69, Soren Hansen (Denmark) 67 72, Ernie Els (South Africa) 69 70, Raphael Jacquelin (France) 70 69, Peter O’Malley (Australia) 67 72, Jonathan Lomas 67 72
ANDRADE TAKES ROUTE 66
PAOLI, (Pennsylvania): Billy Andrade followed up his fine display at last week’s Canadian Open by firing a five-under-par 66 to take the lead after the first round of the $3.3 million Pennsylvania Classic Thursday.
The 38-year-old American was one shot ahead of fellow countrymen J.J. Henry and Kenneth Staton. Australian Mathew Goggin and Donnie Hammond of the U.S. shared fourth place on 68, one ahead of a group of nine players.
Andrade shared the lead at the Canadian Open through 36 holes before closing 70-73 to finish tied for 12th. But he described his final round as one of his best 73s and refused to get discouraged.
Andrade, whose round consisted of five birdies and no bogeys, picked up strokes at each of the three par-fives.
Up until the Canadian Open, he had missed 10 of 24 cuts and recorded only six top-25 finishes.
Henry, who has a habit of playing well towards the end of the season, was pleased to be one stroke behind Andrade.
In 2000, four of Henry’s 12 top-25 finishes and two of his top-10 finishes on the Buy.com Tour came after August.
Last year, four of his five top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour were also after August.
First round scores
66 Billy Andrade
67 J.J. Henry, Kenneth Staton
68 Mathew Goggin (Australia), Donnie Hammond
69 John Senden (Australia), Carlos Franco (Paraguay), Michael Clark II, Brent Geiberger, Rod Pampling (Australia), Jeff Brehaut, Brian Bateman, Brett Quigley, Paul Goydos
70 Edward Fryatt (Britain), Chris Smith, Ian Leggatt (Canada), Jess Daley, Brad Lardon, Bill Glasson, John Rollins, Len Mattiace.—Reuters
