Pádraig Harrington hits his opening tee shot in round three of the Men's Individual event at the Rio Olympic Games
Pádraig Harrington admits he needs luck on his side but he hasn’t given up hope of winning an Olympic medal in Rio on Sunday - even gold.
The Dubliner, 44, fired a four under par 67 to go into the final round in a five-way tie for seventh on five under par, seven strokes behind new leader Justin Rose.
As Seamus Power shot a three over 74 and fell 16 places to tied 26th on one under, Harrington revelled in blustery conditions to compile a six-birdie round that catapulted him 15 places up the leaderboard to five under par and within four shots of the bronze medal position.
Rose shot a six under 65 to lead by one stroke on 12 under par from Open champion, Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who signed for a 69.
But with overnight leader Marcus Fraser of Australia labouring to a one over 72 to sit alone in third on nine under, 10 players are within five shots of the bronze at least.
Harrington is not ruling out anything and while he was disappointed to bogeyed the 10th and 11th having gone to the turn in an immaculate, four under 32, he birdied the 16th and 17th to keep his medal hopes very much alive.
"Well, depends on how the leaders finish,” he said when asked if he had a shot tomorrow. “Obviously there's a few birdies coming home. Going out there today, you're trying to shoot eight under par or something like that to catch up.
“Obviously it got windy and reasonably blustery. Fabulous conditions for me. I'd like to play golf in these conditions every day.
“Nobody likes playing in the rain like yesterday, but when it's a nice breeze like that today, and warm weather, you can really work the golf ball. So it was fun playing out there.
“Again, I really rue 10 and 11 as missed opportunities. I could have made up three shots there and would have had a bumper day then, but it is what it is.
“I've left myself in a situation that to be honest, everything has to go for me tomorrow and fall into place. But I've been trying to stay patient. I'm going to wait and be patient, and you know, hopefully tomorrow is the day. “
Harrington is in Brazil to win gold and while seven strokes is a big advantage to concede to a player of Rose’s stature, he’s not settling for a medal of a lesser value just yet.
"Yeah, look, we're all trying to win the gold,” he said. “Second and third are great when you get them, but we're all trying to win the gold, no doubt about it.
“As I said before, every week, 156 guys tee it up, you have one winner, 155 losers. This week, 60 guys have teed it up and we're all Olympians, we're all winners. Everybody will walk away from this feeling like they have achieved something this week.”
Asked about the possibility of having to settle for a silver or bronze medal battle, he said: “Clearly depends on what way the leaderboard breaks. But if I was lying 60th at this event, I'd be trying my hardest on every shot tomorrow. If the best I can finish tomorrow is 10th, I'll be trying hard to finish 10th. That's my nature.
“So it's not a question of thinking there's a different tournament. There's one tournament, play your best, and see where you finish.”
Bubba Watson (67), Sweden’s David Lingmerth (68) and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (68) share fourth spot on six under with Harrington tied for seventh with Mikko Ilonen (66), Matt Kuchar (69), Gregory Bourdy (72) and Rafa Cabrera Bello (71).
Rickie Fowler shot a best of the week, seven under 64 to share 14th on three under.
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from News - Irish Golf Desk http://ift.tt/2b6wL9e
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