Harrington needs low finish in Greensboro

Padraig Harrington will be driving for dough tonight. Picture by Fran Caffrey/golffile.iePadraig Harrington can cure his FedEx Cup play-off headache by shooting a round in the mid 60s in the final round of the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.

A third round 69 left the Irish star tied for 62nd place in the tournament on four under par and if he remains there on Sunday night, he will fail for the first time since the FedEx Cup was established six years ago to make the top 125 points earners who will contest play-offs (see Projected Points).

While in theory Harrington could earn enough points with solo 60th place to move from his current position of 130th to 125th or better, he will likely need to shoot at least a three under par 67 to have any chance to making enough points to progress to The Barclays in New Jersey next week.

Whether he is playing consistently enough to pull it off remains to be seen. His haul of 11 birdies in three days is modest and a good day with his new TaylorMade Ghost putter and especially his driver will be crucial.

In Saturday’s third round, the world No 74 opened with a birdie from 12 feet but then bogeyed the sixth, eighth and 10th as a result of poor tee shots.

He hit back with a birdie at the 11th, hitting a 166 yard approach to eight feet and got back to level for the day thanks to a 154-yard approach to four feet at the 13th.

Forced to get up and down from 54 yards to save par at the 14th, Harrington two-putted the par-five 15th to get into red numbers but missed a seven footer for birdie at the 17th and was forced to settle for a modest 69 that leaves him near the back of the field.

American Webb Simpson shot a six under 64 to lead by two shots on 15 under par from overnight leader Tommy Gainey (69) with Carl Petterssen (63) and John Mallinger (64) three strokes behind on 12 under.