Harrington, Furyk and Woods trade lead at The Grove
Jim Furyk described himself as miserable and homesick on Wednesday, but today there was something to cheer him up – he and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington joined Tiger Woods in the lead in the American Express World Championship at The Grove near Watford.
Furyk, keen to return to the United States to see his children after a three-week trip to Europe, went to the turn in a five-under-par 31 in his second round.
And that brought him alongside his Ryder Cup partner Woods, the defending champion and overnight leader following a dazzling 63, and also Harrington, who birdied both the par fives on the inward half.
World number one Woods, striving for a sixth successive strokeplay win, resumed with a 12-foot birdie to go two clear, but followed that with seven pars in a row to remain nine under.
Things were really bunched at the top with England’s David Howell and South African Ernie Els only one behind, but then came a two-stroke gap to Henrik Stenson, Stewart Cink and also Ian Poulter, who reached eight under but then three-putted the sixth for a double bogey six.
Harrington contributed only a half a point to the Ryder Cup triumph last week, but the Dubliner finished second and fourth in his previous two starts and had two extra incentives this week.
He reckons he needs to win two of his last three events to have a chance of topping the European Order of Merit and a top two finish this weekend to qualify for the US Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship.
Only the top 30 money winners qualify for that and he is currently in 57th place, while in Europe he is in sixth place behind Paul Casey, Howell, Robert Karlsson, Stenson and Colin Montgomerie.
Casey, however, was in joint last place on four over after seven holes of his second round.
Woods had finished his first round with an eagle on the 18th - the only one of the day there - and when he returned to the hole he did it again.
This time it was with a drive and 246-yard second to 10 feet.
Harrington and Furyk had just overtaken him at 10 under, but the putt lifted him to 11 under and suddenly the three were clear as Els and Howell were joint fourth on seven under.
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