One day after storming to the first-round lead at The Barclays with a tournament-low 7-under 64, Padraig Harrington yesterday went the other way on the leaderboard.
Harrington shot a 4-over 75 to tumble to 3-under entering the weekend and went from leading by one shot to trailing by five.
After his sterling opening round, the topic of the Ryder Cup and his rocky relationship with European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal were in heavy discussion. Harrington did not qualify for the team by points and is at the mercy of Olazabal selecting him as a captain’s pick.
“There were no distractions for me in that regard,’’ Harrington said after his round yesterday. “I feel everything’s pretty clear about that. I played lovely. It’s a tough course and things just didn’t happen for me today.’’
Meanwhile, in response to Harrington’s candid talk Thursday about Olazabal and the feud the two have had since a 2003 disagreement on a ruling, Olazabal denied feeling any ill will toward Harrington. Olazabal insisted there are no lingering problems between him and Harrington following an incident at the 2003 Seve Trophy in Valencia, when Harrington questioned Olazabal’s actions in repairing pitch marks.
Despite saying at the PGA Championship Harrington had to do “something extraordinary’’ to make the team and then, on Thursday, saying he had to “at least win’’ Barclays to be in consideration, Olazabal defended himself to reporters in Scotland at the Johnnie Walker Championship.
“If you look at the list, Harrington is well back on the list and not closer than other players, so he certainly needs a win or a top finish to make the team,” Olazabal said.
“I don’t know what this is all about. He’s an experienced player but at the moment he is not able to deliver, period. And it’s simple as that.”
“If people believe [the earlier problem] is interfering with my judgment, then first of all they are completely wrong. If that was the case I would be failing as a captain. So to put it gently, that’s a lot of B.S.”
Bob Estes, who’s one shot out of the lead at 7-under, said he played with Harrington in a practice round and was taken aback at how well he played Thursday.
“I was really surprised with Padraig’s 7-‑under because I played a practice round with him and he hit it all over the place,’’ Estes said. “But he obviously found something [Thursday] morning.’’
Harrington will be looking for that in today’s third round.
In a surprise considering his familiarity with the golf course, Keegan Bradley missed the cut, finishing at 2-over. Bradley, who calls Bethpage Black his “favorite course in the world,’’ never got it going this week, shooting 71-73.
Bradley and his St. John’s teammates used to play practice rounds on the course. He has spoken about being heartbroken to have missed making the 2009 U.S. Open here by two shots in sectional qualifying.
Among the other significant players who missed the cut were Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan, both of whom are fighting to make the Ryder Cup team as a captain’s pick, Graeme McDowell, and U.S.Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III.
The best round of the day was shot by Henrik Stenson, who carded a 65 to move to 4-under for the tournament. … Phil Mickelson shot a disappointing 3-over 74 yesterday and is even for the tournament. … S ergio Garcia will not play in next week’s Deutsche Bank Championship.