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Harrington moves ahead in Irish Open

18/05/2007

Padraig Harrington fired a second round of 68 to take a one stroke lead at the Irish Open at Adare Manor.

The home favourite overcame the blustery conditions to move to three under par, a shot clear of England's Simon Wakefield, Swede Joakim Backstrom and Argentina's Andres Romero.

Harrington, 35, capitalised on the tees being brought forward again by 321 yards by firing five birdies and a bogey.

The Irishman said he enjoys playing in windy weather.

"I think I will treat it as any other round of golf. I'm not going out there thinking 'I'm in the last group in the Irish Open'," Harrington said.

"I'm going to go out there thinking I'm playing golf to the best of my ability and that's it.

"I want to win this very badly, there's no question about that, but it would be a great achievement if I could go out over the next two days knowing that, and yet play and behave like it's a regular event and a normal day out."

Joint overnight leader Simon Dyson plummeted down the leaderboard after making 78 while India's Jeev Milkha Singh made a nightmare round of 82.

England's Lee Westwood looks unlikely to add to his first Tour victory in four years last week at the Spain Open after going round in 77.

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