Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke are both still in contention at the Smurfit European Open at the K Club, despite erratic play by both men. Harrington will remember the third round of the European Open with mixed feelings. He shot a birdie on the first to go seven under, but followed that with two bogeys before an eagle on the fourth brought him to eight under. Wayward driving meant that he was scrambling for much of the round, and bogeys on the 14th and 15th took him to seven under. However, he never gave up and finished strongly with a bogey and an eagle, going round the course in 69 on ten under par and remaining in contention.
At one stage, Darren Clarke had a share of the lead on eleven under before disaster struck on the treacherous 17th hole. His first drive went left into the River Liffey and his second right into deep rough for a triple-bogey seven. He rescued his round with a birdie on the last hole to finish with a nine under 71.
Mikael Lungberg also had an inconsistent day, starting with two bogeys before regaining his composure with a level par round to maintain his place at the top of the leaderboard. He is one shot ahead of Jarno Sandelin and Henrik Bjornstad, who share second place. Harrington is fourth and Clarke is fifth.
It wasn't such a good day for Eamonn Darcy, who had to settle for a level-par 72 today in contrast to yesterday's fine second round of three-under 69 where he did not hit a single bogey. Three more birdies today left him three under but three bogeys in the final five holes brought him back to level par with one round remaining. Damien McGrane carded a second successive level-par 72 but remains one over for the tournament. He hit four birdies and only two bogeys in the front nine but two more bogeys in the back nine left him level par.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
