Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington to miss the cut at Irish Open
Darren Clarke is projected to miss the cut into the weekend at Irish Open, presented by Discover Ireland. The European Tour event, carrying a purse of €1,500,000, is taking place at the par-71 Killarney Golf & Fishing Club.
Clarke, who won the Open Championship earlier this month, teed off from the front and wrapped the first round of the tournament with a 69, which was a decent start. On Friday, however, the 42-year-old bogeyed five holes against three birdies to post a score
of 74. The poor score has put Clarke in the danger zone and he is expected to pack his bags for home.
This is quite the opposite of what Clarke said before coming to Killarney for the tournament. He said, “I’ll be trying my best to do it and I’m sure the home support will help me along the way.”
The second Irishman who is expected to bid goodbye is the three-time major winner Padraig Harrington. Harrington joined the field at Killarney thinking he would have a home course advantage, but it was not to be for the veteran. The Dubliner teed off from
the front in the opening round and bogeyed five holes against two birdies. That left him with a score of two-over-par, which eventually laid the foundation of his performance in the latter round.
After the second round, Harrington is three-over-par, owing to the burden of one double bogey and one bogey.
“We worked on it before the tournament [The Open] started and I thought we had figured it out, but it still wasn't working. It was very disappointing to miss the cut, but I feel that the work I got done over the weekend will pay big dividends in the coming
weeks,” said Harrington, before coming to Ireland for the only tournament that takes place on his home soil.
With two of the five Irishmen out of contention, the ball is now in the court of Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Ross Fisher. The trio still has two more rounds to play to make sure that the trophy stays back home.
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