Harrington extends Senior PGA lead but fears “long weekend” in Dallas
Pádraig Harrington admits he faces a long weekend trying to hold off the chasing pack after he missed a chance to leave the field for dead in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in Dallas.
The Dubliner (51) followed his opening eight-under 64 with a "constrained" 68 to stretch his lead from two to three shots over Japan's Katsumasa Miyamoto on 12-under par at halfway.
But after finding himself still at the top of the leaderboard as he headed out for his second round on Friday afternoon, Harrington felt he missed a chance to put some serious daylight between himself and the rest of the field.
"Well, I'm happy to be where I am," he said after another bogey-free round at PGA Frisco's Fields Ranch East course. "I feel I kind of missed a chance today.
"When you're going out for your second round, and you're still on top of the leaderboard, and you're hoping you can shoot a low one and get away from 'em; hoping I could go out there and shoot another eight-under par and get to 16-under and all of a sudden try and get away from the field.
"When you're leading, that's the best thing to do. It didn't play like that. It was a bit constrained, I would say. Yesterday was a very easy 64. Today was a harder fought 68."
Miyamoto shot 69 to sit alone in second place on nine-under, with former Open champion Stewart Cink just four behind on his senior's debut after a brace of 68s.
Steve Stricker is alone in fourth on seven-under after a 67, while Darren Clarke is six behind Harrington on six-under, tied for fifth place with YE Yang, Adilson da Silva and Alex Cejka after a second successive 69.
Harrington admitted he was less inclined to go for shots with the lead due to the punishing nature of the course.
"You know, there is a lot of danger out there," he said. "Like I hit my first three tee shots down the left rough because there's hazards down the right. That's what you do when you're leading the tournament. You kind of got to get away from that as well.
"As I said, it would have been better if I went out there trying to -- you know, it's hard to do, but you want to be a little bit freer and take a few more chances.
"But sometimes, when you're leading, you just get a little bit cautious. That's why, I suppose, it happens all the time in golf; it's very, very difficult for a leader to move away from the field. It's easy for the field to chase 'em down because there's a bit of freedom. They have nothing to lose.
"So obviously, I have another 36 holes of that coming up, so it's going to be a long weekend for me."
