Harrington vaults clear with 66

Padraig Harrington's flawless six-under-par 66 meant the Irishman took a three-shot lead in the second round of the Tour Players' Championship and surged nine strokes ahead of playing partner Tiger Woods on Friday.

Harrington added six birdies to his seven from the opening round and moved to 13-under-par 131, three strokes ahead of the player who pipped him to the European number one spot last year, South African Retief Goosen.

Woods, by contrast, had to fight for his birdies and when he bogeyed two of the first three holes, the unthinkable was fleetingly on the cards -- that he might miss his first cut after making 119 successively worldwide.

As Harrington moved past Goosen, who had earlier set the 10-under target with a 69, Woods slowly regained his composure to ensure he would be playing at the weekend, shooting a 71 for joint 38th place.

Harrington came by birdies much easier, holing one putt of 30 feet and crowning another stunning short-game display by 'blading' a wedge shot into the hole from 18 feet for a two on the short 16th.

"That was a bonus," said Harrington. "You get the odd break like that when you're on top of the leaderboard."

"I'm having a good week with my putter and I did a lot of work on my driving after yesterday's round and it was a lot better today," said the 31-year-old Dubliner, who beat Woods in the Target World Challenge last December.

"It will take him (Woods) to play well and me not to repeat what I've done for the first two days for Tiger to win and there are other threats -- like myself," added Harrington.

Two years ago Woods trailed Michael Campbell by 10 strokes after two rounds and went on to beat the New Zealander by four shots.

He has not given up hope of his third successive win in this event and fourth in five years, but recognised Harrington would now be hard to overtake, especially if he retained this week's magical touch on greens that were considered sub-standard before the tournament because of a fungal infection.

"Paddy (Harrington) has missed, I believe, one putt inside 15 feet. When it's going your way, it's going your way," The world number one said.

"It's going to be tough to catch him. I've been here before, I guess, but I'm hitting the ball well. It's just tough to make a lot of putts."

Goosen, who is using a heavier putter on the greens, remains Harrington's chief threat for the title.

Australian Peter O'Malley charged to a 66 to share third place four strokes off the pace, with Swede Robert Karlsson and Britons Andrew Coltart and Graeme McDowell.

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