Padraig Harrington fights through rain to seize PGA Tour Champions lead

Padraig Harrington has played in the rain many times before. After all, he is Irish and has been playing professional golf for nearly 30 years.

So after two rounds of the PGA Tour Champions Hogue Classic, the Dubliner shot a 4-under 67 on Saturday to take the sole lead. Harrington’s score was impressive considering the conditions early in the round. The only other players to shoot lower scores than him were YE Yang and Ricardo Gonzalez, the latter of whom he shot a 7-under 64.

“I have to say it was a great play for me. Yeah, it was long in places, but I was able to use my length quite a bit on some holes,” Harrington said.

“I think the setup was perfect. I always like when the course is a little softer off the tee. It makes it longer for other people and I can open up my shoulders a little bit more. is.”

The three-time major champion has plenty of distance off the tee and used that to his advantage Saturday.

However, Harrington, who started with two birdies in his first three holes, played a little erratically and played the next 12 holes at two over.

“The first 14 holes were the opposite of yesterday. I looked like I played well, but my score wasn’t very good, but the last four holes made up for it,” Harrington said.

“And I was pushing hard the last four holes. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but even if I didn’t get the lead, it was important that I tied it up by the end of the day. I started thinking a little bit more. I felt like I was a little off with the bogey on the 14th, but it was a good way to finish.”

Harrington took an eagle on the par-5 15th, made par on the 16th, and had birdie-birdie on the par-3 17th and par-5 18th.

Impressively, the Irishman improved from 8 under par to 12 under par, starting Friday with a 9-under 62, and taking a one-stroke lead over Thongchai Jaydee, who shot a 2-under 69 on Saturday.

Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images

“I thought Thongchai played very well today. He didn’t make any mistakes and I didn’t think he did everything well. I hope he goes out and plays well tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it,” Harrington said of Jaydee.

“You know, a one-shot lead over Thongchai is not enough. He seems to be playing very well. Yeah, in my head, I think he’s going to beat the rest of the guys at five or six under and try to catch up. I think we’re going to put a lot of effort into Thong Chai.”

So a reporter asked Harrington if he had a target score in mind for Sunday.

No, just play each shot the way you want. If I’m in the lead, I’m always trying to get the field out of play. So, like me and Thongchai tomorrow, I hope we both play 4 under on the front nine, both of us, then the last nine holes will be between me and him and the field Because you have too many things to do. That’s my attitude,” Harrington said.

“The last thing I want to do tomorrow is shoot at par and give myself a chance to go 8 under, 9 under or even 7 under. Hopefully, both of us can play well. , I hope we can resolve it well in the last four holes.”

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.