Rusty Harrington happy to be back in action
Harrington joked after carding a one under par 71 that he might have to add the goal to the list he jots down in his diary at the start of each new season.
The triple Major winner’s first competitive round in two months was a mixture of 10 straight opening pars before closing off with two birdies and a 15th hole bogey.
“I suppose it’s what I kind of expected but one under is certainly passable,” he said.
“But I am just trying to get myself going so that I get myself in position on Sunday afternoon, and if I can do that, I’ll be happy. So I knew it would be a slow build up and I was happy in general with a lot of things I saw. It takes a little while to get into things.”
A severe hail and rainstorm flooded the course early on in the day that caught Harrington’s group on the tee at his fifth hole.
The Swedish pair of Johan Edfors and Mikael Lundberg head the field after rounds of six under par 66s.
Rory McIlroy heads the field of six Irish after moving into a share of sixth place on four under par but with six first round holes to play.
The Ulster teenager continued his superb end-of-2008 form with birdies at the opening two holes on each nine. “I played really nicely but missed a couple of birdie putts on 12 and 13 but the light was getting quite low so it was hard to read them,” he said.
“It was quite difficult but I am playing really nicely and I can’t complain, everything has been really good.”
Kilkenny’s Gary Murphy was out earlier to card a three under par 69 that included four birdies over his last five holes.
“I played okay the front nine despite a bogey at the first after a bad drive and a bad second and then at 14 I got it going by holing a 60-footer,’’ he said.
“And considering the weather we had, I am really happy with the start though the second half after the rain was a lot better than the first.”
Sergio Garcia may be on his way to taking over from Tiger Woods as world number one – but he is still having putting nightmares. Garcia grabbed three birdies yesterday and then a sparkling eagle in the first 10 holes.
That left the 29-year-old ‘Race To Dubai’ leader five under par and only one behind Swedes Johan Edfors and Mikael Lundberg – but on the next two greens he missed par putts of under three feet.
Because of an earlier two-hour hailstorm delay, there was time for Garcia to play only two more holes – and he will resume in the morning three under and joint 15th.
That still made it a better day for him than for great rival Harrington, Masters champion Trevor Immelman and Ryder Cup team-mate Henrik Stenson who shot 76 after a bizarre mishap on the 475-yard 16th.
After hitting into the dense rough, Stenson found a ball of the same type and number, but only after hitting it did the Swede discover it did not have his personal mark on it.
That meant a two-stroke penalty and a triple-bogey seven went on his card – all on the course where Stenson shot a record 62 two years ago.
Former US Open champion Angel Cabrera fired a superb 10-under-par 62 to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Africa Open.
Cabrera carded nine birdies, an eagle and one bogey to top the leaderboard at East London Golf Club. Canada’s Graham de Laet is a shot behind after a 63 with another former US Open champion, Retief Goosen, three shots further back on six under.
Ireland’s Darren Clarke is another stroke back after a 67.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
