Harrington's hard work pays off

Padraig Harrington, the world No10 from Dublin, took the early lead in the Players Championship yesterday with a halfway total of 135, nine under par.

The Irishman, a renowned scrambler, lost his rhythm towards the end of yesterday's round but still managed to play his back nine in one under par. He had a two-stroke lead over Davis Love III and the defending champion Craig Perks, with Fred Couples and Adam Scott a further stroke away.

Tiger Woods, out late, would not be able to complete his second round, because of Thursday's rain delay, and was not in any case making much of an impression on the leaderboard. He was in bunkers on two of the first three holes but still saved par, and was level for the tournament after 24 holes.

Harrington played well for the first 27 holes and was also getting the breaks. Playing the back nine first yesterday, he bunkered his second shot at the 15th but then holed his recovery from 20 yards, and that took him to seven under. Then, after a poor tee shot to the long 16th, he was forced to lay up but hit his third, from 113 yards, to five feet for another birdie.

He continued to make the most of his chances, recovering from driving into a waste area at the 5th by hitting his second to 10 feet and holing to go to nine under, and then saving par at the 7th by chipping to six feet from 76 yards.

Earlier he had also laid up at the long 11th but pitched to four feet for a birdie, and at the 13th he holed from 12 feet for yet another. He was laying the groundwork for his first official victory in America. Last November he won the Target World Challenge, an event organised by Woods, beating the man himself by two shots, but the money was unofficial and the exemptions that go with a win on the regular tour did not apply.

Harrington, who works as hard at his game as any player in the world, described himself yesterday as "a work in progress" before, ruefully, admitting that he probably always will be.

He spends not just hours with his Scottish coach Bob Torrance but days at a time, and will then go back to Dublin and hit thousands of balls to consolidate his learning process.

Prior to the Players Championship there had been 12 inches of rain here in the first three weeks of March, threatening to return the course to its original state of swamp. Then on Thursday a violent thunderstorm deposited almost another inch, bringing play to a halt with 68 players still to complete the first round.

Harrington was one of them and he had to come back to a six-footer for a birdie at the long 11th. "I'd brooded on it overnight," said the Irishman, but he holed it nevertheless.

He gave his supporters - and Irish golfers have a lot of supporters in these parts - palpitations at the 18th. His drive finished about 10 feet from the lake that runs the length of the hole on the left, and from there he had a difficult angle to a pin placed on the left of the green.

He hit what he thought was his best shot of the back nine, but it pitched left of the pin, kicked left and finished about a foot from the water. He had a stance, just, managed to manufacture a lovely little cut-up shot to two feet to save par and, at that stage, jointly led with Couples on 67, five under.

Colin Montgomerie could find no consistency in his second round. After opening with a one-over-par 73, he went to two under after six holes before running into a double bogey at the 7th. Then he made a birdie at the long 9th before taking bogeys at the 10th and 11th, but he refused to blame his new clubs.

"I had 33 putts in the first round," he said after completing it, but if you are hitting the ball 30-40 feet from the pin all the time, that is hardly surprising. His 72, for 145, left him with a worrying wait to see if he had made the cut.

Justin Rose had an eagle and two birdies in his first six holes, reached the turn in 33 and at three under for the tournament was tied for 16th. He dropped two late shots to go from tied for 14th to tied for 42nd but Nick Faldo, with a 68, moved to 23rd on 142, two under. Luke Donald, admitting that he was struggling with his swing, added a 76 to his opening 74 to miss the cut comprehensively.