If the Irish Open’s third round was akin to Hamlet without the Prince in the absence of world number one Rory McIlroy after his missed cut, the heightened expectation that Pádraig Harrington would step into the breach to lead the home challenge failed to materialise as the Dubliner fell away with an error-strewn 78.
"Obviously, it's all gone now," said Harrington of any pretensions of challenging for the title, as Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen utilised his ability to craft low shots in the wind to claim the 54-holes lead. Kjeldsen shot a third-round 67 for 206, seven-under-par, to take a two-stoke lead over German Max Kieffer and Spain's Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
The Irish challenge disintegrated, with Harrington's plight showcased by a horrid run of three straight bogeys from the 15th in a back nine of 40 strokes. Graeme McDowell made the most of an early tee-time to record a 69 for 216 which catapulted him some 32 places up the leaderboard into tied-24th, where he was later joined by Paul McGinley who stuck stubbornly to his task for a 71. Shane Lowry, meanwhile, was a shot further back on 217 after a poor finish which included a double-bogey six on the 17th.
Of them all, Harrington probably had most regrets. He had started the day in the thick of the hunt just a stroke off the sextet of midway leaders. “I was positive going out. I knew I wasn’t out of it, but I didn’t create momentum, didn’t play well, didn’t hole putts. My short game was not tight enough. I dropped five shots based on short game yesterday, and probably the same today. I just wasn’t up to it . . . I tried my hardest,” he said.
Harrington’s undoing came with a double-bogey six at the eighth hole and any chance of a comeback was brutally halted with no fewer than five bogeys on his back nine, with a lone birdie on the 12th. “I’ve no problems with the conditions, I wanted a good test. I just couldn’t get any momentum in my round, I missed too many putts,” he said.
For his part, with a new putter in his bag, Lowry’s birdie-birdie start raised expectations that he could muster a challenge. On the first, his five-foot eagle putt grazed the hole and, on the second, he hit a sand wedge approach to eight feet. He was up for it. And when he birdied the Par 5 12th to get to three under on his round, it seemed as if he had momentum going into the closing stretch. However, a first bogey of the round on the 15th was compounded on the 17th by a six.
“I got off to a flyer and then I just struggled to read the greens, struggled to hit decent putts and just didn’t feel good when I got on the greens. Tee-to-green I felt great but when I got on the greens I really struggled. I really, really, really wanted to do well in this tournament and I wanted to try and win this tournament. It’s just not happening for me this week,” said Lowry.
On what was moving day, some up and some down, Kieffer set the standard with course record 65 that moved him into a share of second with Cabrera-Bello and in closest pursuit of Kjeldsen.
Fully recovered from a wrist injury which has plagued him in recent years, Kjeldsen had six birdies – including a hat-trick from the 11th – in his 67 and didn’t drop any shots until suffering back-to-back bogeys at the 17th and 18th to bring him back to his leading pursuers.
“This course suits someone like Soren who’s not going to hit the ball too high, he can work his way around here, stay out of trouble,” said Harrington of the Dane, seeking a first win on tour since the Andalucia Open in 2009.
