A stomach bug didn’t spoil defending champion Padraig Harrington’s chance to retain his Iskandar Johor Open title in Malaysia.
Harrington returned to the rain-softened Horizon Hills course early on Saturday and birdied four of his closing nine holes and move into a three way of second place at 11-under par at the close of the second round.
The triple Major winning Harrington revealed he has not been feeling well for the past two days but still managed to post a four under par 67 on the Horizon Hills course.
It left the Irishman trailing tied with England’s James Morrison (65) and Frenchman Gregory Bourdy (67) and with trio trailing two strokes behind Sweden’s Daniel Chopra (65) who is on 13-under par.
Padraig Harrington battles a stomach bug to be in good position to retain his Iskandar Johor Open title. (Photo - Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
“It was important to get as close to Daniel as I could, because we don’t know if there are 18 or 36 holes left to play,” said Harrington.
”I was very aware of that coming down the last nine holes, and even on the last hole so it was nice to birdie both 16 and 18.
“But I’ve actually been feeling a bit under the weather for the last 48 hours, so that break yesterday actually did me the world of good, because I was able to sleep for three hours,” said Harrington.
“I’m not sure if it was something I ate, but I’ve been really struggling to sleep and I lost my appetite.
“But I felt better after my sleep yesterday afternoon, and I felt better again this morning.
“I’ve been surviving on toast for the last two days, but hopefully I can get something down me now and maybe go for a little nap before the third round starts.”
The second round resumed at 7.20am local time with 70 players still to complete their second round.
The 25-year old Morrison continues to impress after being in contention for much of last week’s Barclays Singapore Open before ending in a share of eighth after finding water down the last with his second shot at Sentosa.
However last year’s Maderia Islands Open winner is out to make amends after resuming his round at the eighth before birding his closing three holes, including a three-footer at the last.
“It was good to birdie my last three holes because in the bigger picture that could now make all the difference depending if we play 72 holes or 54 holes,” he said.
“I am very pleased with my position on the leader board and it means I am in the third round last group as my goal today was to finish as low as I could.
“But I am going out now having played alongside players like Darren Clarke and Monty feeling as though as I am a fellow competitor rather than putting players like Harrington up on a pedestal.”
Bourdy resumed his round at the fifth and capped his closing 13 holes with four birdies in succession from the 13th as he seeks a first win since capturing 2009 UBS Hong Kong Open.
Dutchman Joost Luiten, and the first round leader, recorded a 70 to fifth position at nine under par.
Former British Open champion, Louis Oosthuizen and the highest world-ranked player in the event at Number 37, recorded a 67 to be sharing 17th place on six under par.
Tournament Director, Jose Zamora has yet to make an official statement as to the possible scenario over the last day-and-a-half of the $US 2m event.
However he did reveal late on Friday that it was the intention to play as many holes as possible and that included the full 72 holes despite the threat of continued thunderstorms that has plagued the co-sanctioned event.
And as Zamora also indicated the Sultan of Johor will be attending the event on Sunday after celebrating his birthday on Tuesday.
“So whether it’s 72 holes or 54 there will be the prize giving ceremony on Sunday,” said Zamora.
