Final round of four under par 67 sees Padraig finish at ten under par and a top twelve finish. He got off to a nice start with a birdie on the par five 5th hole but had a disaster on the par four 7th hole where he found trouble to run up a double bogey six. Yet again he rallied well on the back nine with five 3’s to come home in 31 shots. It’s his highest finish in Europe for quite some time!
A third round of three under par 68 sees Padraig in the top twenty heading into Sundays final round. He got off to a nice start to be out in level par on a tougher day for scoring, mixing one birdie on the par five 5th with a dropped shot on the 9th. He came home in an impressive three under par with birdies on the 12th, 15th and 17th holes. He is currently at six under par with 16 under par leading.
Second round of one over par 72 sees Padraig in a share of 30th place going into the weekend at the Portugal Masters. He again got off to a nice start with an early birdie but two dropped shots followed and had him out in one over par. He got that shot back at the par five 12th hole to again be level par but dropped a final shot on the par four 15th hole. His day finished on a bright note as he holed a monster putt on the last from just off the green to secure his par and look forward to the weekend!
Padraig opens his account in Portugal with a very pleasing round of four under par 68. It currently shares second place after the morning round. Starting on the back nine, he got of to the perfect start with an early birdie three on the par four 11th hole before recording two more on the outward nine to be out in 33 shots. Turning for home he reeled off four pars before picking up another shot at the par five 5th hole. He then played steady golf to finish with four more pars and no dropped shots for the day! He tees off late Friday at 12.10pm local time.
Padraig plays this week at one of his favourite events on the European Tour, the Portugal Masters. He did, of course, win the event in 2016 bridging a gap of eight years since his previous win with a bogey free final round of 65. It was his 15th European Tour title and he would dearly love to add to that haul this week at the Dom Pedro Victoria course. “I always enjoy playing the Portugal Masters,” said Harrington. “It’s a fantastic tournament, generally played in lovely weather and there’s always a good atmosphere.”
Tee Times – Thursday at 8am and Friday at 12.10pm with the defending champion, George Coetzee and Nicolai Hojgaard.