Bad luck dogs Harrington at Masters

Padraig Harrington suffered more than his fair share of bad luck as he carded his third successive 73 in the Masters.

The world No five's hopes of completing the third leg of the Paddy Slam evaporated on Saturday when he ran up a nine at the par five second.

But there was more bad luck on Sunday as he lost a ball up a tree at the ninth and then three-putted for a triple bogey seven and followed an eagle at the 13th with a ricochet off a tree going into the lake at the 15th.

He still made par there and followed with a birdie at the 17th to finish in the bottom half of the field on even par after a week that he will remember for his bad breaks.

"My caddie asked at one stage if I had murdered someone last week," said Harrington, who was docked a shot on the 15th on Friday when the ball blew away as he addressed it on the green and had five penalty strokes during the week.

"It just wasn’t meant to be. Didn’t hit a couple of wedge shots close, poor three putt on the seventh and you are not going forward after that."

The Dubliner was surrounded by roars from the course as Phil Mickelson charged up the leaderboard alongside Tiger Woods.

He said: "There was a lot going on. The course is very well set up for scoring,  the greens are very receptive, the pins were accessible and there was a lot of cheering going on. It was great to be out there.

"I do like the way the course is set up. It is a good set up, its exciting and it is a very playable. It is more playable for everyone even though the tougher set ups generally suit me."