Harrington survives New Orleans cut
It's an indictment of Pádraig Harrington's fragile form these days that surviving the cut on the number is almost an occasion for celebration.
But after two bogeys in his last six holes left him teetering on the wrong side of the mark for more than an hour, his survival for the last two rounds of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans can only be regarded as a positive.
Out in level par on the back nine at TPC Louisiana with a birdie and a bogey on his card, the Dubliner appeared destined to cruise effortless into the weekend when he birdied his 10th and 11th holes.
But a missed four footer for par at the fourth hole followed by another bogey at the tough, par four six left him near the projected two under par cut mark.
When he finished, Harrington went from 69th to 72nd in the blink of an eye before bogeys by the later starters left him in an 18-man logjam for 67th place — 13 strokes behind leader Ben Martin who added a 67 to his stunning, opening 62 to lead by three strokes from Andrew Svoboda on 15 under.
Since last year's Masters, Harrington has missed 14 cuts from 26 starts — five of them by just one stroke.
Of course, the world No 182 needs wins, not cut successes to haul himself out of a very deep hole. That he made the cut putting averagely and hitting few fairways can only be a good thing. That he slipped towards the cut line when seemingly in a decent position, is not.
A big weekend can only help as he prepares to return to Quail Hollow next week, the venue where he began his brief flirtation with the belly putter 12 months ago.
His struggles on the greens continue but it's clear that if he recovers his mojo with the blade, he can still do some serious damage.
