MARTIN LAIRD ONE OF EUROPEAN QUALIFIERS

Padraig Harrington leads at halfway

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in Florida after best round of year

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Padraig Harrington is the halfway leader at the US PGA Tour's Transitions Championship in Florida.
Four behind after his opening 69 at the Copperhead course in Palm Harbour, Tampa Bay, Ireland's three-time Major winner produced a six under par 65, his low round of the year, for an eight under total.
With first round leader Garrett Willis shooting a 77 and making the cut with only a stroke to spare at level par, Harrington heads into the closing 36 holes one ahead of Americans Jim Furyk and Bubba Watson, Swede Carl Pettersson and defending champion Retief Goosen.
Harrington, without a Tour win since he won back-to-back Majors at The Open Championship and US PGA Championship two years ago, grabbed seven birdies.
Starting on the back nine the Dubliner, who missed Wednesday's pro-am to attend a St Patrick's Day dinner hosted by President Obama at the White House, pitched to two feet on the 11th and then struck a 185 yard approach to four feet at the 16th.
He then had to hole from only 20 inches, eight feet and ten feet on the first, third and fifth greens and after his only dropped shot at the next he found the target from eight and ten feet again at the seventh and ninth.
Harrington, joint third in the WGC-CA Championship in Miami last Sunday, was tied for top spot at that point, but in the group behind him Furyk bunkered his drive down the ninth and bogeyed to match Pettersson's bogey-free 68.
"I'm capable of winning in the form I'm in," said Harrington. "Am I in my best form? No. Am I getting there? Yes.
"You put yourself out there. That tests where your game is at. Some weeks the results happen and you get a win and some weeks they won't.
"I've played tournaments where I've played great coming down the stretch and not won and I've played tournaments where I've played average and won.
"Because I don't know so many of the shots here I have to keep hitting at the flags and it seems to be working quite nicely.
"The greens are superb and the wind was predictable, so it was a good morning for scoring."
Germany’s Alex Cejka and English pair Ross Fisher and Luke Donald are four under and three under respectively, with Scot Martin Laird one further back.
Greg Owen survived the cut on the limit by parring the last 13 holes, but Brian Davis missed by one after a closing bogey.
Justin Rose, 59th in the world and looking to climb into the top 50 in time for the Masters Tournament, kept that hope alive by improving five strokes on his opening 73 and moving to one under.

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