Dubliner Padraig Harrington yesterday out-scored his playing partner by 10 shots at the US Open - and still kissed goodbye to any hopes he had of getting back in sight of the leaders. Harrington did not have a single birdie in a six-over-par 76, but American JJ Henry had a nightmare 86 in his third round at Shinnecock Hills. "It was one of those days - very, very peculiar," said Harrington, who had survived the halfway cut with only a stroke to spare and after 54 holes was down on 10 over par. "It helps to see good things and neither of us could get the ball into the hole all day. Actually, I played lovely, but my birdie putts were all downhill. "I got frustrated when I didn't birdie the fifth (he has parred the 537-yard hole all three days) and made a couple of silly errors." Out in 38, he double-bogeyed the 412-yard 10th and dropped a further shot on the par three 17th after finding sand off the tee. Lee Westwood, also four over overnight, was happy with how he struck the ball too, but the difficulty of the course still led to a 73 and at seven over he was 13 adrift of Phil Mickelson, Shigeki Maruyama and Jeff Maggert, who made it a three-way tie at the top with a 20-footer on the short second. A tough task became tougher for Tiger Woods, meanwhile, after an error-strewn start to his round. Already seven behind at halfway, Woods scrambled a par on the 393-yard first - one of the easiest holes on the course - and then bogeyed the next two. After three-putting the short second, he missed the fairway again on the 478-yard next, went through the green and after chipping back to eight feet left it short. He did birdie the eighth after an approach to three feet, but Woods, who has failed to win any of the last seven majors, is in danger of losing the world No 1 spot to Ernie Els this weekend. For that to happen he has to finish outside the top six and Els has to win, but the South African was in joint fourth place and three behind yesterday after resuming with three pars to remain three under. Mickelson's goal, of course, was to add this title to the Masters he won in April and keep alive the possibility of golf's first-ever Grand Slam of all four majors in one season. European hopes were resting by and large on the shoulders of Sergio Garcia and US Tour-based Swede Daniel Chopra. However, Garcia bogeyed three of the first four and needed a birdie on the next just to be two over. Chopra, partnering Woods, covered the first eight holes in level par, making up for bogeys at the second and third with birdies at the fifth and sixth. He was joint 12th on his debut in the championship. Phillip Price, level par and in the hunt until he bogeyed the last three holes of his second round, managed only 37 for the front nine, so dropped to five over. David Toms was out in 32 to climb to five over, but then had a triple bogey on the short 11th, the hole where Miguel Angel Jimenez took nine in the first round. | 
Golfing Destinations
