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MAJOR LETDOWN
Padraig Harrington found it hard to motivate himself when he started the day eight strokes off of Tiger Woods’ lead. Coming off the high of winning the British Open, the circumstances left the Irishman feeling “just a little bit flat.”

It didn’t help when he started out with a bogey on No. 1.

“When I started badly, I certainly felt like I was out of the tournament,” Harrington said. “I needed that little bit of adrenaline to keep me going, obviously with all that’s happened in the past couple of weeks.

“It certainly felt like the last couple of holes were tough going to get through.”

Harrington said he struggled with reading putts and getting the pace right on Southern Hills’ greens. He carded a 72.

OBERHOLSER OVERHEATING
Arron Oberholser said he drank about 10 to 15 bottles of Gatorade diluted with water, but still was feeling symptoms of heatstroke.

“It’s dangerous out there heat-wise,” Oberholser said after shooting even-par 70.

Temperatures reached as high as 99 degrees in Tulsa, and the humidity made it feel even hotter.

“It’s kind of nice because it’s so hot out there it takes your mind off everything because you’re just thinking about the heat all day and how you’re going to survive the heat,” Oberholser said.

“I don’t envy people that live in this part of the country when it gets like this. This is oppressive.”

WANING STORM
Graeme Storm was disappointed when he failed to break par for the second straight day after opening with a 65 to take the first-round lead.

“I’m not playing that badly. I’m just making the odd mistake and I’ve holed nothing for the last couple of days really,” Storm said after shooting 74. “It’s just frustrating. The chances I’m getting, I’m not making.”

Storm said he didn’t think he’d made a putt longer than 10 feet all week, but he made up for that Thursday by getting it closer to the pin than that. Now he’s hoping just to crack the top 20, and figures he’ll need another round under par to get there.

“It’s always good to play Sunday in a major, so I’ll enjoy that experience,” Storm said.