Padraig Harrington misses cut for fifth time in a row as his French Open adventure ends

Padraig Harrington's nightmare run of missed cuts was extended to five in Paris on Friday – as many as Tiger Woods has failed to make in his entire 13-year professional career.

With his Open hat-trick attempt less than two weeks away, Harrington's fate was effectively sealed when he drove out of bounds and ran up a triple-bogey eight at the 14th hole of his second round in the French Open Alstom at Le Golf National.

The Dubliner, who finished with a 75 for five over par, freely conceded on Wednesday that he was running out of time to get his game in good enough shape to triumph again at Turnberry. Now he has only next week's Irish PGA Championship to find a bit of competitive confidence before heading to Scotland.

Harrington, who last played four rounds of an event at the Players Championship in Florida in early May, left a tournament which at the halfway stage sees Argentina's Rafa Echenique - last week's albatross man in Munich – take over at the top from German Martin Kaymer.

It was more his putting than his eight which troubled the three-time major winner.

"I was never comfortable on the greens all week," said Harrington, who felt his three-putt bogey at the 13th to drop to two over was the crucial mistake.

"I'm hoping that's all it was. I just struggled – just putted terribly and didn't get any confidence. That's reflected in the score. It showed up the weakness in my putting."

Echenique, who finished runner-up to Nick Dougherty last weekend after holing a three-iron on the final hole, added a 67 to his opening 65 to reach 10 under.

Kaymer, having matched the course record with his opening 62, took 10 shots more and from three clear dropped two strokes behind in joint second place.

Alongside him are England's Steve Webster and South African Charl Schwartzel, Webster shooting a best-of-the-day 65 a week after spending five hours in hospital.

He was helping his father when a loft door hit him in the left eye.

"I was worried quite a lot at first because it cut inside my eye," said Webster, who missed last week's event in Germany following the incident.

"I had to have X-rays first and then stitches. "

Tournament host Tiger Woods turned up the heat on defending champion Anthony Kim by taking the clubhouse lead in the second round of the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.

Woods followed yesterday's six-under-par 64, his lowest opening round in two years, with a 66 on the par-70, 7,255-yard Blue Course.

The five-birdie, one-bogey round took the world number one into the early second-round lead at 10 under par with Kim set for a start in the afternoon having shot a course-record, eight-under 62 in his first round.

Luke Goddard, 21, from Hendon, was the hero as England reached the final of the European Amateur Team Championship at Conwy, North Wales, yesterday.

With their semi-final match against Norway poised at three apiece, Goddard snatched a vital victory at the second extra hole against Espen Kofstad to send England, nine times winners, into the title decider with a 4-3 success.

They will today face Scotland, who overcame Italy 4.5-2.5.