Harrington leads by three in Germany

Padraig Harrington left Tiger Woods trailing in his wake for the second day running in Hamburg today - and this time there was…

Padraig Harrington left Tiger Woods trailing in his wake for the second day running in Hamburg today - and this time there was nobody else who could live with him either.

Harrington goes into the third round of the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open at Gut Kaden three clear of the field and a massive nine strokes ahead of the world number one.

Graeme McDowell leads the chasing Irish group on nine under, a shot ahead of Darren Clarke and Peter Lawrie.

Paul McGinley however is well off the pace on level par with Ronan Rafferty yet to finish but currently on one under.

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Woods was actually in danger of suffering only the second missed cut of his professional career after bogeys at the first and third, but he got his act together to add a 71 to his opening 69.

But by then his playing partner had reached 13 under with a 66 and Woods, seeking a third successive victory in the event and fourth win in five years, conceded: "Paddy's going to be tough to catch.

"He drove it better today and putted the same."

Harrington, bogey-free for the second day running, disagreed with the American's calculation that he has so far missed only one putt inside 15 feet.

But the Dubliner said: "I am doing nicely. I'm very happy with my scores - I thought the course was tougher than that, but I've gone with it. I was making birdies, so I thought I might as well keep on doing it."

As well as enjoying his golf he enjoyed talking with Woods for two days as well. They got into a chat about musical tastes on the 15th tee and were so into it that somebody had to tell them the fairway was clear.

Retief Goosen, joint overnight leader, dropped to second place with a 69. He had as many birdies as Harrington again, six, but this time threw in three bogeys as well.