Padraig Harrington continued his spirited comeback during the second round of the Players Championship today. Harrington, in danger of missing the cut after a first-round four-over-par 76, teed off today knowing he needed to shoot par or thereabouts to be sure of surviving for the final two rounds at the Sawgrass TPC.

And the Dubliner accomplished that as he finished with a round of 70 to move to two over for the tournament. While he remains seven off the share lead of Rory Sabbatini and Phil Mickelson, who have yet to start their second round, at least Harrington is in a position to mount a challenge over the weekend.

He made a dream start with two birdies in his first three holes, a near tap-in birdie at the par-five 11th followed by a 20-footer at the par-four 12th. A bogey at the easy par-five 16th, where he three-putted, stalled his momentum but he safely negotiated the famous par-three 17th without dropping a shot.

His good form continued on his inward nine as he collected two more birdies to go three-under for the day, one-over for the tournament but a dropped shot at the ninth, his last, moved him down the leaderboard.

Colin Montgomerie also shot 76 on Thursday, and there was little to cheer about early in his second round either, as he dropped one shot on the front nine to turn at five over, in need of a transformation over the next nine holes to make the cut.

Greg Owen came home strongly, picking up three shots on his back nine, but it was too little, too late as he carded 78 for an 11-over 155.

Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal was faring considerably better. He bogeyed his first hole, the par-four 10th, before picking up eight birdies in the next 12 holes, with a bogey thrown into the mix for good measure.

The two-time Masters champion is renowned for his great putting, and he showed why by sinking a couple of monsters — a 50-footer at the 17th and a 30-footer at the fourth. He also holed out from off the green at the par-3 third.

Unfortunately, Olazabal had a lot of ground to make up after an opening 78.

Meanwhile, Australian Peter Lonard briefly took the outright lead before a double bogey at his 13th hole, the par-4 fourth, brought his run to a screeching halt.

He dropped back to four under with a large group including Swede Carl Pettersson (through 12) and American Jim Furyk (15) one stroke behind Mickelson and Sabbatini, who had late tee times.

Brian Davis, the leading British player at one under, had a late start, as did world number one Tiger Woods, who opened with a disappointing 75.

After Thursday's extremely strong and gusty winds, players were given something of a reprieve early today. A breeze of less than 15mph was a welcome change for many players after yesterday's buffeting.

The average first-round score was 75.4, while the early second round average was nearly three shots better.