Pádraig Harrington scraped through to make the cut at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship by a single shot after a disappointing day on the DP World Tour.
Harrington had started the day in tied fifth position after an opening round 67 but his round went awry on the back nine on Friday at Al Hamra GC.
After an even-par front nine the Dubliner’s wayward drive at the 10th hole led to a double bogey. Harrington made a birdie on the 11th to recover slightly, but followed it up with three bogeys and a birdie to card a 75, to finish the day on one under for the tournament. At tied 55th place Harrington is 11 shots behind the leader Marcus Armitage. The Englishman shot a brilliant 63 and leads by two strokes from Daniel Brown and Alejandro del Rey.
Tom McKibbin followed Shane Lowry in the US in exiting this week’s tournament at the halfway stage, although with different fortunes to Harrington. The Belfast man shot a credible 69 on day two to restore some pride in Ras Al Khaimah, but the damage was done with a 76 the first day. Conor Purcell will also miss the cut after rounds of 72 and 77 in the United Arab Emirates.
It was a better day for Galway golfer Liam Nolan on the Challenge Tour, who moved up to tied fifth place with a five-under-par 67 at the SDC Open in South Africa. Nolan is three shots off the lead of Altin van der Merwe heading into the weekend. Fellow Irishman Max Kennedy will miss the cut after he followed up his opening round 75 with a 73.
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