By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent, Minnesota

An SOS to a sports injury expert kept Ireland's Padraig Harrington in the United States PGA championship on Saturday.

After battling with an ankle problem all week Harrington, six off the lead at halfway, had just sorted that out when he suddenly hurt his neck practising 10 minutes before the start of his third round.

The Dubliner immediately went into spasm and could hardly turn his body as he went to the first tee.

He telephoned Australian sports physiotherapist Dale Richardson, who travels the golf circuit treating players, but found he was not even at the course at the time.

However, Richardson got in his car, "broke a few traffic regulations" on the way and got to Harrington on the first fairway.

He immediately sat him down on the ground and started manipulation to try to free things up.

Harrington double-bogeyed the hole, but Richardson followed him the whole way round and continued to treat him between shots.

In the circumstances a 74 for a two-over aggregate was a remarkable effort and Harrington said: "At the start I didn't think I would be playing many holes.

"Dale is a genius, though. He said it would get better and it did."

But Harrington was still clearly in serious discomfort at the end and will be anxious to see what state he is in before the final round of the final major of the season.

"I hit my opening drive about the same distance as a four-iron and I was not going to play if it stayed like that.

"When it happened I was in serious pain. Every time I put my foot down I had a darting pain. It was not looking good.

"I had the same thing about three years ago and it lasted three weeks. But I obviously hope it's going to go away much quicker this time."