Harrington up with the birds

Early bird Padraig Harrington struggled to catch up with his sleep at Oakland Hills.

The Dubliner got up at 4.30 am so he would be in perfect shape to resume his delayed third round at 7.30

But he didn't tip toe around the luxury house he rented for his ten-strong entourage.

He said: "I was up doing my exercises, jumping around the place and trying to wake everybody."

After Friday's disappointing 74, Harrington said he needed 24 hours in bed but eventually got an extra hour's sleep on the locker room floor.

With two weather delays on Saturday, Harrington explained: "During the first one I did my exercises, stretching and got ready as if I was going to play a round pretty soon. The second one I went to sleep for an hour, lay on the locker room floor. I've always been a pretty good sleeper."

Crowds down

With Tiger Woods out of action and the Olympics in full swing, the PGA has failed to attract big crowds.

Asked for the attendance figures, a PGA official said: "Those are no being disclosed as of now."

Up to 40,000 fans a day were expected but estimates put that number at less than 20,000.

Sales in the merchandise tent were down 25 percent and there was no last minute sale to get rid of stock.

 

Zinger comforts Aquaman

"Aquaman" Woody Austin wanted to drown his Ryder Cup sorrows after missing the cut.

The famously hot-headed Austin said he was "really embarrassed" to miss out on an automatic place on the team after shooting a pair of 79s.

But US skipper Paul Azinger hinted that he would give him a Ryder Cup wildcard in he played well over the next few weeks

Azinger joked: "Do I need to call Shannon (his wife) and tell her to take all the sharp objects away for a day or two and let him know he's got three tournaments to go?

"He's trying to make this team and I know he's discouraged. But I'll call him up and make sure he understands that it's not over for him and that I have a lot of confidence in his ability."

Major men

Padraig Harrington is one of 11 players who can say that they made the cut in all four Majors this year.

The others are Robert Karlsson, Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen, Andres Romero, Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Jim Furyk, Mike Weir, Justin Leonard and Paul Casey.