Harrington takes time to get in swing

Careless error at the eighth causes Irishman to pause for thought before resuming normal service

Padraig Harrington committed the professional golfer's cardinal sin of hitting a shot before he was ready on the eighth tee at the Brabazon in the second round of the Benson & Hedges International.

Padraig Harrington committed the professional golfer's cardinal sin of hitting a shot before he was ready on the eighth tee at the Brabazon in the second round of the Benson & Hedges International.

He was thinking about driving into the water on the left in practice and into the rough on the right the previous day. He ended up toe-hooking his drive into the water.

Harrington then made sure he did not hit his next shot until he was absolutely, positively, definitely ready. A conservative estimate of the interval between the drive and this third shot – allowing for the penalty stroke – was 15 minutes.

As he had driven into a lateral water hazard, Harrington had several options. One of them was to play from the other side of the lag by the sixth fairway. Dave McNeilly, his caddie, risked a glacial stare from Colin Montgomerie to round the lake past the groups behind playing the seventh and the sixth, before reporting that the line upon which he could drop would not yield a favourable lie.

Meanwhile, Ian Woosnam and company went into the steam-making industry as they waited on the tee, wondering why they were not invited to play through. "It's OK," Peter Alliss spluttered on television, "it doesn't get dark until around 8.30." This was still the pre-lunch session.

Harrington finally dropped back down the fairway and from there took what he described as a "straightforward six". Two referees from the European Tour were in attendance and there is no question he was in breach of the pace of play regulation. And they wonder why rounds take upwards of five hours. Not that we would necessarily have known if he were. It is not Tour policy to report breaches of the regulations. Imagine a football match without red or yellow cards; the public awareness is part of the punishment.

This hole was not representative of Harrington's round for he again played beautifully, his anxiety about his swing in practice notwithstanding, and he added a 68 to his opening 67 to lead on nine under by two from Angel Cabrera. The Irishman birdied the 10th, played the back nine in 33 before eagling the third for the second day running.

After a birdie at the fifth he needed one more to equal the official course record and two to tie his own unofficial mark of 64 from the 2000 tournament when he was disqualified for signing for a wrong score in an earlier round.

Harrington's lunchtime lead held up all day. Montgomerie was six under for his round after 14 holes, but finished bogey, bogey, par, double bogey, finishing at two under. David Dixon, the overnight leader, slipped back, but another English rookie, Jamie Elson, was at four under.

Elson, who scored a 69, is the 22-year-old from nearby Kenilworth. He had not played at The Belfry before but had visited many times, including Ryder Cups and to watch his father Pip play when he was on the Tour in the 1980s.

"I couldn't get him off the phone," said the former Walker Cup player who is only in his third tournament after turning professional.

Scoring has not been easy this week but Jean Van de Velde, in his first tournament for 10 months, scored a 70 to be one over. In one sense he comfortably made the cut, but it was more of a painful experience as the right knee on which he had cruciate ligament surgery last year got used to walking 18 holes again.

"Yesterday I was a bit rusty but I started to enjoy myself when I made a few birdies," said the Frenchman. "I was in a lot of pain from my knee but it is normal and I am not worried."

Benson & Hedges International (The Belfry) Leading early second round scores (GB or Irl unless stated): 135 P Harrington 67 68. 137 A Cabrera (Arg) 68 69. 140 J M Lara (Sp) 72 68; J Elson 71 69. 141 J-F Remesy (Fr) 71 70; S Leaney (Aus) 69 72; S Scahill (Nzl) 71 70; E Canonica (It) 69 72; R Muntz (Ned) 70 71; R Johnson (Swe) 73 68. 142 R Chapman 71 71; C Montgomerie 72 70; S Lyle 75 67; R Gonzalez (Arg) 70 72; S Khan 72 70. 143 P Lawrie 71 72; G Brand Jnr 69 74; A Coltart 70 73. 144 P Fowler (Aus) 72 72; T Price (Aus) 73 71; P Hedblom (Swe) 75 69; A Atwal (Ind) 71 73; B Davis 70 74; H Stenson (Swe) 68 76; R Rock 71 73. 145 A Wall 73 72; L Westwood 72 73; Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 75 70; R Jacquelin (Fr) 73 72; P Price 73 72; G Emerson 75 70; P Lawrie 74 71; J Berendt (Arg) 71 74. Selected: 148 I Woosnam 77 72. 155 J M Olazabal (Sp) 75 80. 156 Jamie Donaldson 78 78.