Harrington wins by seven as Purcell, McGee and Power head for Q-School finals

Pádraig Harrington admitted he was chasing 59 after going six-under after seven holes

Pádraig Harrington admitted he "hit a wall” chasing a magical 59 as he romped to a seven-shot win in the TimberTech TimberTech Championship in Florida.

The Dubliner (52) closed with a seven-under 64 to win his sixth PGA Tour Champions title and his second of the season from Bernhard Langer and Charlie Wi on 16-under. Scores

But he confessed he “hit a wall” the moment he started to think about breaking the sub-60 barrier after he birdied six of his first seven holes on The Old Course at Broken Sound.

"I made plenty of birdies but I struggled in the middle of the round every day so  it was nice to get that start,” Harrington beamed after pocketing $350,000
"I tried to keep riding it, to be honest, and on number eight I nearly holed for birdie to go seven under and I was working out in my head, 'This is par 71, you only need to make 12 and that would be a 59’.

"How hard is it to shoot 59 like? I just hit a wall then.”

Harrington moved up to third behind Steve Stricker and Langer in the season-long standings heading into this week’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Arizona after a thrilling performance.

He started just one stroke clear of veteran Langer (66) on nine-under but followed two opening birdies with four in a row from the fourth to extend his lead to four shots.

While the German birdied the ninth to Harrington’s bogey to cut the gap to two, the Irish star played the back nine in two-under, rolling in a 15-footer at the 18th for his ninth birdie of the day to claim his second win of the season on 16-under.

Langer limped home in three-over 38 and shot 70 to tie for second with Charlie Wi, who also shot 64 as Darren Clarke safely made the top 36 who qualified for this week’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Arizona after a 70 left him tied 19th on three-under.

Meanwhile, Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell heads into this week’s Final Stage of the DP World Tour Qualifying School with confidence after finishing sixth behind England’s Marco Penge in the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A.

The Dubliner (26) needed a top-two finish to win a DP World Tour card via the top 20 in the final Road to Mallorca standings.

But while a one-under 71 left him solo sixth on level par, 10 strokes behind Penge, who shot 69 to win by six shots from France’s Tom Vaillant on 10-under and top the rankings.

Purcell moved up seven spots to 29th in the final standings, and he’s feeling good about his chances of winning his card at the Final Stage of Q-School.

He’ll be joined at Infinitum Golf by Ruaidhri McGee and Mark Power, who came through the Second Stage at Fontanals in Girona yesterday.

McGee closed with a level par 71 to tie for 15th on four under in the battle for 22 spots, while Power came through a seven-man playoff for the last four places on three under, having birdied two of his last four holes to card a bogey-free 68 to tie for 19th with six others.

He made a good up and down after a mud ball at the first extra hole, parred the second and then hit a great five-iron to 12 feet on the third and lagged close to get through before play was suspended due to darkness.

Galway’s Ronan Mullarney shot 68 but failed to qualify by a shot on 10-under at Isla Canela Links, while Marc Boucher was 62nd on three-over after a 72 at Desert Springs Resort in Almeria.

The final round takes place at Golf Las Pinaillas on Monday, with Conor O’Rourke third after a 66, Dermot McElroy tied 14th after a 74 and Paul Dunne 21st after a 73 in the battle for 23 places.

On the Asian Tour, Graeme McDowell tied for 13th in the Volvo China Open, while Stephanie Meadow finished tied 63rd behind Japan’s Mone Inam in the LPGA co-sanctioned TOTO Japan Classic.