VETERAN PAIR ARE MADE TO SWEAT IN TEXAS
PADRAIG HARRINGTON and Graeme McDowell were both sweating to make the cut in the AT&T Byron Nelson in Texas last night.
Harrington added a 70 to his opening 69 to stand on three under par, the same mark as Graeme McDowell who couldn’t build on his Thursday 67 and struggled to a one over par 72.
Harrington carded four birdies, a bogey and double-bogey while McDowell was rocked by a hat-trick of bogeys in his first three holes from the 10th as he tumbled below the cut line.
He steadied things with a birdie on the 14th and added two more, on the 1st and 5th, offset by a bogey on the second.
Both major winners were on the cut mark, but nothing was guaranteed as scoring was red hot at the Trinity Forest club.
Overnight leader Marc Leishman tagged on a 66 his scintillating first round of 61 to set the pace on 15 under par. Two shots back was Brian Gay after a 62.
Seamus Power was among the late starters and was six under midway through his front nine.
On the European Challenge Tour, Ruaidhri McGee led four Irish golfers into the knockout stage of the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Matchplay 9 in Malaga.
Michael Hoey, Cormac Sharvin and Dermot McElroy also made the cut but Gavin Moynihan missed out. RORY McILROY has been made an honorary member of Congressional Country Club in Maryland, where he won the US Open in 2011. ROBIN DAWSON of Tramore has a two-shot advantage at the Irish Amateur Open in Royal County Down. Dawson added a 71 yesterday to his opening 65 to lead from Alex Fitzpatrick (70), brother of European Tour pro, Matt.