Padraig Harrington revealed that a piece of advice from his wife Caroline could help him to re-ignite his US Open challenge after a poor opening round which left him seven shots off the lead. The Dubliner was among 57 players unable to complete their first rounds in the United States Open at Shinnecock Hills yesterday following first a thunderstorm and then fog.
After parring his one remaining hole for a three-over 73 that left him seven adrift of leaders Jay Haas and Shigeki Maruyama, Harrington was quickly off again for his second round.
But before he teed off the Ryder Cup star, beaten in a play-off by Sergio Garcia at last week's Buick Classic, said: "I struggled to get going yesterday, but after the stoppage Caroline said I looked different - I looked as if I had more purpose. I played the last five holes very hard and had a lot of chances. At least that was positive. For some reason I wasn't with it at first and wasn't making things happen. I went out again a bit more aggressively. You can make birdies here. I have a lot of work to do, but it's still possible."
Darren Clarke also completed a 73 and he said: "I had a bad bogeys last night and am just not playing the way I would like to. It's the same as last week (he missed the cut at Westchester) – wasting silly shots. I was making bogeys with eight or nine-irons and you can't really afford to do that."
The Ulsterman had thought it was his putting that was letting him down, but a chat with caddie Pete Coleman made him realise that the problem was not hitting his irons close enough and he was attempting to address that.
US Masters winner Phil Mickelson was the first to mount a challenge from the chasing pack, carding a birdie at the par four first to go to three under, one off the lead, after three holes of his second round.
Filed by Brendan Cole
