Irish ( heavens) Open

If there is wind at Portrush the scores will not be that low .  The greens are big , running at 12 today I was told  , saw balls landing pin high at Calamity finishing off the green ( just ) , short , 2 putts away .  Only 2 was a 30 yard pitch in . And all this with no pressure .

Rough not too punitive , but if it blows and the PGA get their way with 12 plus watch out for some big scores .

First hole is the longest looking 410 yarder I have ever seen  , uphill to a  tiered green ...  Knee knocker to start .

right im going for a bigger field than usual this weel,ross fisher 20/1.n colsaerts 22/1,rory 7/1,g mcdowell 12/1,g coetzee 50/1,all to win,and then i done permed doubles with woods maham and dustin johnson in america,only small doubles for the interest,should be a great weekend of golf,i know you were saying pod deplaterer but i just think there is no value backing him at the price,prob going to be left with egg on my face

Gl all, got Pod at 14‘s Huddy, somebody said on the golf forum he was sprayin it 40 yds right off the tee in practice but i‘ll take my chances. threw a few quid pn M Hoey at 65‘ s tonite as a backup. The weather is rough up here tonite but warm, expect a low one from somebody tommorow.

ye i was just reading that on the golf forum alright,best of luck deplasterer,just hope the weather isnt to bad,

Decent start for Hoey and Pod.
Heavens certainly opened in Tipp,off tonight.

Pod -5, lovely start.

Harrington is really something else .
Playing well -he gets a lucky break at his second last hole -poor drive -poor second and chips in from the rough for birdie to go 5 under.
Then a monster drive at his last (par 5). He has only 145 yds for his second shot -but goes for the flag and ends up short on the fringe. Then goes for the eagle , blows it 5 ft, past and misses . Walks off with a farcical par,
Why the hell can't he take his easy birdie and go in at 6 under ...it's only the first round .

Incidentally -how can you call a hole a par 5 if you can play a wedge for your second ? Even amateurs are eagling them.

Pod is Pod you know Vubiant, he's a rollercoaster ride every week, not for the fainthearted.

The last was frustrating but Harrington is in a lovely position probably a few off the lead and what i call loitering with intent.
Agree with Vubiant about hitting a wedge for your second means it isin`t a par five,how longwas his drive.

Think they mentioned his drive on the last as 345yds,poor finish alright,suppose still gives you a chance to go in again.

end of the day, he 3 putted, no real damage done, birdie would have been nice though.

Pod 7.6 fav at present, just in case you wanted to bail WMFB.

Time to harden the Harrington bets could not be better placed.

Any snipers about Portrush to stop Bourdy?

yeah 7 shots is a fair bit and the forecast for the afternoon saying rain till maybe 4.00,think Pod will need a -4/5 to stay in there.

worse again 8 shots

Someboby just rifled one past his ear, just dropped one at the 11th.

pod birdies first 2! Come on Paddy get at them.

All over Ross Fisher,still 17.0

Just backed POD for the open


Hope Hoey can get another birdie or 2 in the last few holes, prob a bit far back if he doesnt

only 22.0 on here Bjg,what is best price with bookmakers ??

22/1 is biggest

spoilsports, the bald manc ****, joke orals and sidney james

Thanks Pf probably be a better bet ew

dj876     29 Jun 12 16:19 
only 22.0 on here Bjg,what is best price with bookmakers ??

22s i backed at was best - still 22s about

POD only par on the 9th again today!

What scores Pod lads, Euro tour scoreboards a feckin joke.

think hes 9 under...

cheers WR, another birdie will be nice.

european tour dot com as bad.  the summary line has him at 4 under today after 15, 9 under in total.  the detail has him at 5 under today, 10 under in total.

the betting here suggests he is 9 under i wud think?

Matched just now at 3.5 suggests a birdie?

He missed his birdie putt, liped out

How's he gettin on at the par 5 Premier?

About 25ft odd for birdie. Maybe a little more.

Got it.

Birdie.

birdie...17th

Very well deserved, had several half birdie chances on the back 9. Playing some great stuff.

Get in there Padraig!

Split the 18th fairway so should avoid the trademark Pod final hole mess up.

Cheers Dan, still stuck in work so no pictures.

Nice and easy par. Beautifully positioned for the weekend.

Couldn't ask for much more, haapy days & had him at 6-4 in 3 ball against McDowell & Dyson too.

what did i not just listen to the master

Very poor start from harrington,bad birdie miss there,he,d want to get his finger out.

Another chance to get one back at 9 coming up. Got the feeling he needs to get some momentum going.

And another miss.

Took advantage of 9 thankfully. Hasn't played badly at all, just missed the birdie putts to keep the momentum going. Hopefully he'll kick on.

Previous chance was at 8 obviously.

Poor par for where he was in the fairway,lot of players now in this.

Just finished following Pod, played beautiful in tough conditions and if a few of those ten footers had gone in,would almost have the lead. still the man to beat and a true Irish star never stopped smiling even when strugglung early on.l

Best of luck deplasterer with Pod I thought he was just grinding his way around, and missed 2 easy chances (for a player of his quality) to be joint leader.
The missed birdie on the 18 was poor, and he seemed to lack confidence with that putt.
Maybe they will collapse around him but its not going to be easy or pretty. All the same come on pod ......get loose.....

backed him this morning myself...if he keeps focused he'll win hands down ...seems to have quickened his game ....less time to worry about his shot ..c'mon pod....

Whole country rooting for him - the reception he got coming in y'day was like that for a winner.
However a lot of the early guys out today seem to be under par -so one has to think Harrington needs at least a 68 to get up there.

Come onPadraig supetvalu ran out of pampers for the guys around you!

Lundberg already gone to 12 under  after only 6 holes .
This ain't no cakewalk for POD -he's going to need an excellent trouble free round to get in the mix.

Missed

They are tearing the course apart today

Very much back in the pack now. Plenty of work on if he's to win.

Nothing like a ridiculous opening bogey to kick things off.
Birdies and eagles flying in everywhere -can't see Harrington doing it from here if the course is playing like a kitten.

He should get it back on 2 after that drive

Wall must be out of bounds with that drive

As jonesuse to say “dont psnic“. or else lay pff last nite at 3.9.

Birdies/Eagles flying in all over the shop. Not really a final day course set up is it.

Won't suit Pod at all. Will have to hole this birdie putt at 3.

Missed it

In the height of trouble now,probably need help from donaldson and lundberg going backwards.

smashing app...

Just keeps missing. Chance looks to be gone.

ffs

It can't be helping Donaldson playing with Wall who is hacking around as if he only picked up a club last week for the first time

surely now...

Donaldson is holing everything.

shocking putt from Harrington

Harrington putting is so poor at the moment.

Everything else is perfect

I cant get RTE One on this live stream, they must be prohibited from showing this Ir Open Golf.

Any one out there want to do a 'ticker-tape' commentary on how he does at this par 5 ninth hole?

(RTE's 'live' coverage is awful slow)

P needs at least a birdie here to stay in touch.

Harrington missed fairway on the 9th. Could reach in 2 i would imagine

All money gone pod once again loses the plot, completely overrated or not, wouldn't back him again in a hundred years, clueless

RTE report now:-

"Harrington's tee shot on the Par 5 nine landed in the rough, leaving a tough second. He connected well with the ball but the control was not there and it flew left of the green and into the crowd. He nees a little luck with the lie and approach."

He'll need it now.

If (if) he could birdie here twud leave him nicely in contention.

8 feet for birdie

missed another

Would be heartbroken right now if I backed him, unlucky lads

He appears 2 b on the 10th now, 'good chance of a birdie' its says now.

very poor putting from him...no excuses so far...if he were to get a run of birdies over the next few holes ...he'd still have a big chance..wall due a slip soon...

'Harrington's birdie put hits the lip, rolls around the cup and out at 90 degrees. Par.'

That's the  time 2day that's happened Padraig.

sorry ment donaldson...

Yep W, his putting is letting him down & big time!

But he's been unlucky now  - twice.

Any chance of seein some golf on rte

Would ye lay donaldson at 1.5??

Harrington seems to have buckled under the pressure. No chance of winning now.

can anyone tell me the last time pod played a par 5 well ffs.....

2 pars on the two 5,s,not good enough.very disappointing last 2 days on the front nine.

Two ugly 5's yeah.

Pod putted like me the last 2 days. Keep the faith though.

Donaldson outstanding today, a long overdue victory.

As it worked out Padraig would have needed a 64 just to tie. Tee to green Pod has been brilliant lately. When the putter gets hot again he'll start winning.

Deplasterer,putting was awful alright,bit unlucky not going in the bunker on that par 3 and scared the hole a lot,maybe kind conditions didn,t help,but all the same i don,t think i,ve been so disappointed in anyone on any golf tournament for a long time,it was his since yesterday and the leaders in the main weren,t highly ranked.Great chance blown to get back to winning ways

Totally agree Pa. And to make matters worse didnt lay a penny off, crazy when there was hunreds available at 3.9 last nite. C,est la vie.

Well said pa, complete anti-climax,I'd say if McEllroy (love him or loath him ) was in pod's position going off today he would have blown that gang of second raters away.
Can you imagine if Tiger got that lot into his little small parish, gosh he'd slaughter them
I could see yesterday on the last hole when he failed that his confidence was low. Smiling away after that was complete farce, should have got out as well but stupidly believing he mite win...............
he never again scale the heights he once did.

Raging with Pod the last 2 days. Prime position on Friday evening, perfect to hammer it home at the weekend. Choked on the greens big time today.

Jesus, what was he doing on that 9th hole all week

Thank God I didn't back him each-way

I'm a great fan of Harrington but by God he tests one's patience.
It's not so much that he didn't win -I never really thought he would -but that he didn't mount a challenge from his starting position today .
Of the top twenty players he was one of only 3 who didn't break 70 .
The bogey on the first was hard to stomach ..as the hole was virtually a child's play par for everyone I saw.
Still -it's another top ten and if he can sharpen up the mid range putting he could be in the picture for the Open.
Here's hoping ---again.

mid range....he missed one from 3 foot today,,,,,,

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