GOLF/ Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe: Ah, the lad is learning. You don't get carried away with things when the job is only half done; even if the first part of the equation involves giving the world's number one a right old whipping, but not an actual slaying.

And although Padraig Harrington's head-to-head with Tiger Woods for the first two rounds of the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe resulted in the Dubliner establishing a strong advantage, the bigger picture, as he observed, is that "there's still a lot of work to do".

Harrington has been here before, leading a tournament at the midway stage. Sometimes he has closed it out; on other occasions he hasn't, most recently at the Belfry a week ago. Whatever this weekend holds, no one can dispute his control of the first two days of a tournament which offers €450,000 to the winner. And to add lustre to the whole thing, he has done it while playing shoulder-to-shoulder with Woods, who - admittedly - hasn't gone away just yet.

Yesterday, Harrington - without a bogey in two rounds - added a sublime 66 to his first-round 65, for a halfway total of 13-under-par 266, which left him three shots clear of his nearest pursuer, Retief Goosen, the South African who pipped him to the Order of Merit title last season.

For the Irish, this has developed into a right old shindig. While Harrington, Europe's top player in the world rankings, at ninth, leads the merry dance, the support act is a strong one: Graeme McDowell, rediscovering his zest, shot a 65 for 265 to be in a four-way tie for third place; and Peter Lawrie and Darren Clarke also manoeuvred their way into contention a shot further back in tied-seventh position. Ronan Rafferty survived the cut on the mark (two-under) after a battling second round 68, but Paul McGinley's failure to take chances left him the only Irish player not to survive.

Harrington, though, isn't getting carried away as he chases a second European Tour title of the season - he won the BMW Asian Open last November.

"Without a doubt, Tiger can win this tournament," said Harrington, aware that the American overcame a 10-shot midway deficit in this same tournament two years ago on his way to a four-stroke winning margin over Michael Campbell. On this occasion, Woods, lying tied-38th, trails Harrington by nine shots.

"It would take him to play well and for me not to repeat what I've done the first two days, but it is possible - very possible," admitted Harrington, who then observed: "But there are a lot of other people who are threats as well, mainly me. I worry about myself more than anyone else and Tiger is just one of those people who have a chance. At some point in the future, I might look back and take some satisfaction in that I outplayed Tiger for the first two rounds. But not now. At the moment, I am thinking too much about the weekend."

Harrington and Woods have been like best friends over the past couple of days, chatting away so much that someone had to inform them on the 15th tee yesterday that the fairway was now clear. The discussion, apparently, was about music and the two discovered they had little taste in common in that regard. As golfers, however, there is a genuine respect and Woods conceded: "It's going to be tough to catch him."

Certainly, Harrington has been impressive. If anything, he was more consummate all-round yesterday than on Thursday, even though he took a stroke more. On only two occasions did he remotely look like dropping a shot - on the fifth, where he found a greenside bunker, only to splash out to three feet; and on the 17th, where he raced his 18-foot par putt almost six feet by the hole - but, otherwise, after a slow start, his play was brilliant.

He started with five pars - "I just wasn't in the zone," he said - but once he reached the sixth green in two and settled for a two-putt birdie, Harrington gathered momentum. He rolled in a 12-footer on the ninth; sank a 30-footer that bounced horribly on the 13th; holed from three feet on the 11th; tapped in on the 15th, and then took advantage of a rub of the green on the 16th, where he bladed a wedge - "on purpose", he insisted - from just off the green and was happy to see the ball roll into the hole.

Harrington's main pursuer is Goosen, three shots adrift.

McDowell, meanwhile, is in a four-way tie for third and said: "What Padraig has done so far is just so impressive. The guy's played really well . . . but I feel I am in a good position and am looking forward to the weekend."

A shot further back lie two other Irishmen, Lawrie and Clarke. Lawrie, who was second in the recent Spanish Open and yesterday found he had made it into next week's Volvo PGA at Wentworth, has grown hugely in confidence these past few weeks.

"I've never played in a tournament like this with so much prizemoney, so I am still feeling a bit of pressure . . . but it is all part of the learning experience and I'm trying to take everything in my stride," insisted Lawrie.

At one stage yesterday, it seemed Clarke's challenge was fading as he bogeyed the eighth and ninth. However, he rolled up his sleeves on the back nine with five birdies to join Lawrie on 136, five shots behind Harrington, the man they all have to catch.

Leaderboard:

- 13 Padraig Harrington (Ire)

- 10 Retief Goosen (S Africa)

- 9 Peter O'Malley (Aus)

Robert Karlsson (Swe)

Graeme McDowell (Ire)

Andrew Coltart (Sco)

- 8 Paul Casey (Eng)

Paul Lawrie (Sco)

Peter Lawrie (Ire)

Peter Baker (Eng)

Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)

Darren Clarke (Ire)