European TourBrian KeoghD+D REAL Czech Masters, Padraig Harrington, Andrea Pavan, Gavin Green

Harrington ready for rollercoaster Sunday

European TourBrian KeoghD+D REAL Czech Masters, Padraig Harrington, Andrea Pavan, Gavin Green
Harrington ready for rollercoaster Sunday
Padraig Harrington. Picture: Getty Images

Padraig Harrington. Picture: Getty Images

Three-time Major winner and Ryder Cup Vice Captain Padraig Harrington is hoping the best is yet to come after a third round 65 gave him a share of the lead with Italian Andrea Pavan heading into the final round of the D+D Real Czech Masters in Prague.

The Dubliner, 47 next week, is seeking his 16th European Tour victory but with another nine players within six shots of the lead, he knows it's imperative that they move forward on the front nine and keep as many of the chasing pack at bay as they can.

“I feel like it was a day too early," Harrington said, no doubt working hard to keep his focus sharp for the final day. "It took a lot out of me, a lot of focus and I holed the putts that you’d like to be holing on a Sunday.

"I’m hoping there’s still another round in it but it was certainly one of those days that you’d like to get on a Sunday afternoon rather than a Saturday afternoon."

Harrington has dropped just one shot all week as he attempts to turn around a disappointing season into a winning one.

Either he's putted well and struggled with his ball-striking or hit the ball brilliantly and struggled on the greens.

But so far this week, he's put the whole package together, combining excellent driving distance, courtesy of his new takeaway pause and his lifting of his left foot as he makes his backswing [he's 14th for driving distance with an average drive of 312.2 yards] with excellent returns with his wedges and the putter [he's sixth for putts per GIR and 4th for putting average].

“I always work on my length," Harrington said of the importance of power on a course measuring 7,467 yards from the tips.

"Sometimes I get criticised for working on it but clearly, you’re not going to compete on this golf course if you’re not going to hit it out there.

"Everyone on this course, especially the leaders going into today, were big hitters. You’ve got to get it out there for those par fives and if you’re not in range for some of the par fours with shorter clubs, they become difficult.

“It is a big-hitters golf course and that’s one of the reasons why I work on hitting it that far. I don’t want to be disadvantaged and turn up at a golf course where I feel I can’t compete, and I’m 47 next week and I’m hitting it further than ever."

Pavan shot an excellent 65 to join Harrington on 17-under par but they are just three ahead of the up-and-coming Malaysia Gavin Green and only four clear of Scott Jamieson, who is struggling at 128th in the Race to Dubai to keep his card.

Harrington is 204th in the money list and while he needs a big week to close the 400,000 point gap on the top 60 who qualify for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, he's not the only one desperate for points and he's expecting a dogfight.

“You’ve got to go out there expecting a roller-coaster, you’d love it not to be but that’s what you’ve got to prepare yourself for – that you’ll make some mistakes mentally, you’ll get good and bad breaks, you’ll hole some putts and you’ll miss some," he said.

"You’ve got to prepare yourself for that. It’s too much to dream of a nice perfect day so we’ll prepare ourselves for a bit of everything."

The Dubliner was never a Ryder Cup wildcard contender and ruled out any wild speculation on that score.

“I’m not in the running for Ryder Cup at all," he said. "This is clearly a different course than what we’d be competing on in France so even if I did show unbelievable form this week, it’s not comparable. I don’t deserve to be there and I’m leaving it to the young guys.

“I’ve had some Ryder Cups and played well in some Ryder Cups, enjoyed them, but it’s time for the young guys. If you look at all of the Vice Captains, we’re all pretty decent players but I think at this stage we’ve all realised we can go and compete, but it’s now down to the young guys to go out and do the real business at The Ryder Cup.”

As for Texas resident Pavan, who's hoping to continue taking advantage of a course that rewards good wedge play and putting, he's heading into the unknown and hopes that putting the blinkers on will help.

“I’m definitely looking forward to playing with Padraig tomorrow," said the Italian, who won the NCAA title with Texas A&M and has seven top-10s from 111 European Tour appearances as well as four Challenge Tour victories between 2011 and 2013.

"It’s the first time I’m in this position on the European Tour so it will be good, probably a long day but I’ll just try to keep doing my own thing and not watch him too much. He’s obviously won a lot of tournaments and has a lot of experience so I will  try to enjoy it as much as I can.”

Green — who is of Portuguese, Irish and Chinese descent — retains hope of becoming the first Malaysian winner on the tour as he lies three shots off the pace in outright third place, following a battling two under par 70.

Believing he has to continue to play aggressively, the 24-year old still doesn't know what score it will take to win.

"Depends on what the wind is like tomorrow," said Green, who became the first Malaysian to win the Asian Tour's Order of Merit last year.

"If the wind is calm and somebody goes crazy, who knows, it’s going to be low. So tomorrow we’re just going to go out and give ourselves as many birdie opportunities as possible and try go from there.”

Scotland's Jamieson is a shot further back, on his own in fourth, while Ryder Cup hopefuls Eddie Pepperell and Thomas Pieters are both six shots off the lead in a four-way tie for 11th position.

 

D+D REAL Czech Masters, Albatross Golf Resort, Prague, Czech Republic

Scores

199 P Harrington (Irl) 66 68 65, A Pavan (Ita) 65 69 65, 

202 G Green (Mas) 64 68 70, 

203 S Jamieson (Sco) 67 68 68, 

204 T Pulkkanen (Fin) 65 69 70, N Bertasio (Ita) 66 71 67, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 69 67 68, 

205 L Slattery (Eng) 65 72 68, T Pieters (Bel) 64 70 71, E Pepperell (Eng) 66 71 68, A Knappe (Ger) 67 69 69, 

206 T Lewis (Eng) 69 66 71, S Vincent (Zim) 67 71 68, C Tarren (Eng) 64 72 70, S Lee (Kor) 66 69 71, 

207 M Schwab (Aut) 69 69 69, A Rai (Eng) 67 68 72, M Kieffer (Ger) 69 70 68, L Bjerregaard (Den) 68 72 67, J Smith (Eng) 70 69 68, A Bland (Aus) 71 68 68, N Elvira (Esp) 65 73 69, J Ritchie (RSA) 70 70 67, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 70 68 69, 

208 J Winther (Den) 65 68 75, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 71 66 71, C Shinkwin (Eng) 67 73 68, C Syme (Sco) 66 70 72, B Hebert (Fra) 69 70 69, D Lipsky (USA) 69 69 70, M Wallace (Eng) 70 65 73, H Stewart (USA) 69 70 69, 

209 M Nixon (Eng) 68 70 71, S Heisele (Ger) 72 67 70, A Connelly (Can) 69 70 70, J Walters (RSA) 71 69 69, D Boonma (Tha) 70 69 70, G Bhullar (Ind) 68 71 70, J Guerrier (Fra) 71 67 71, P Karmis (Gre) 69 71 69, P Widegren (Swe) 71 69 69, J Daly (USA) 64 75 70, D Willett (Eng) 68 70 71, H Porteous (RSA) 71 69 69, P Hanson (Swe) 66 69 74, 

210 R Cho (Kor) 70 70 70, J Scrivener (Aus) 71 68 71, J Morrison (Eng) 70 69 71, B Neil (Sco) 68 69 73, J Donaldson (Wal) 68 68 74, L Westwood (Eng) 66 72 72, 

211 R Bland (Eng) 69 71 71, C Koepka (USA) 67 69 75, R Paratore (Ita) 67 72 72, M Baldwin (Eng) 70 68 73, N Cullen (Aus) 68 70 73, L Herbert (Aus) 69 71 71, S Gallacher (Sco) 69 70 72, 

212 R Evans (Eng) 67 73 72, J Edfors (Swe) 70 69 73, D Howell (Eng) 69 71 72, P Angles (Esp) 67 73 72, 

213 J Choi (Kor) 69 70 74, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 69 73, 

214 J Thomson (Eng) 68 70 76, C Hanson (Eng) 72 67 75, 

215 A Chesters (Eng) 68 72 75, C Ford (Eng) 70 70 75, 

216 P Peterson (USA) 70 69 77, 

217 S Gros (Fra) 70 70 77, 

219 S Hend (Aus) 71 69 79