Padraig Harrington blog: French Open review

Padraig Harrington putts during the French Open .

It was a disappointing week for me. I went to Paris looking forward to a good week so to miss out on the weekend was very annoying. My first round was going along very nicely until the 13th, in fact I had played very well for the first 12 holes to be two under, although it could have been four or five under.

A bad tee shot on the 13th and then a miss-hit lob wedge cost me a double bogey. A bad second shot on the 15th into the water meant another double, however in the end the most painful hole was my 17th - I was just short in two and hit a bad chip that cost me a bogey.

I finished up shooting three over which was a poor return for the way I played. I went from eighth place to outside the cut mark in the space of six holes.

I ended up shooting two over for my second round to miss the cut by two shots. However it was the way I missed that was the worst part of it. I birdied the sixth hole, my 15th, to get to three over. On the eighth my tee shot ran through the green and I failed to get up and down - a poor chip cost me the bogey.

I needed a birdie on the ninth to make the cut. I was pin-high in two with a tough chip left, which I played nicely to four feet, knowing I had to make it to make the cut. I wasn't convinced of the line and ended up missing it; I then went to tap it in and missed that too, resulting in a bogey in the end.

For a while I thought four over was going to make it and I was livid with myself for not marking my second putt. Thankfully the cut was three over.

Looking back at the week I can see that the practice I had done during my week off cost me a few shots. Not because of how I hit the ball but because I got distracted by what I was doing. I found it hard to get it out of my mind and to concentrate on playing. It definitely helped in how I hit the ball but it was a distraction on the course.

I have to get myself back into playing mode before next week and with this in mind I spent some time on Saturday working on my routines and focus. I will continue to do this in Scotland before Thursday.

Talk soon,
Padraig.

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