Harrington off to flying start

IN his first action on the PGA Tour since missing the cut at The Players Championship in May, Pádraig Harrington fired a bogey-free 65 in the first round of the St Jude Classic at TPC Southwind, Memphis yesterday.

The score was Harrington’s best in four starts at the Classic where he has missed two cuts the last three years.

Harrington, who started the day on No. 10, birdied six and seven to help close out a 32 over his final nine to get within two shots of Lee Westwood.

Lee Westwood opened with a bogey-free 7-under 63 that included five birdies and an eagle. He also matched the low score for the back nine at TPC Southwind with a 29.

“This is a much better golf course than I imagined it to be,” said Westwood, who came to Memphis after playing 27 holes on Sunday and 18 holes Monday morning at Pebble Beach, site of next week’s US Open.

“I’ve always been the kind of player who likes to play everywhere,” said the world’s third-ranked player. “I wanted to come the week before the US Open because I like to be competitive the week before a major. Being competitive means more to me than adapting to the conditions. I like getting used to making those 3 and 4-footers.”

* Ireland’s Damien McGrane is joint leader with unfancied Englishman Luke Goddard after shooting a 64 in the opening round of the Estoril Open in Portugal.

McGrane, the world number 220, hit a bogey-free round and picked up eight birdies – including three in a row between the 11th and 13th – to take the clubhouse lead.

Goddard, ranked 1349 in the world, birdied his last four holes to snatch a share of the lead. He picked up shots at the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth to join McGrane on eight-under.

Goddard had earlier picked up four strokes on the back nine, with two birdies and an eagle two at the 11th at the Penha Longa Golf Club.

* Michael McGeady took full advantage of a late invitation to the Scottish Hydro Challenge to move into contention at the MacDonald Spey Valley Golf Course in the Scottish Highlands.

The 32 year old former Challenge Tour winner posted a three under par 68 to sit three shots behind Swedish leader Magnus Carlsson, who posted a 65.

McGeady was joined on the three under mark by his fellow countrymen Jonathan Caldwell and Gareth Shaw, with Colm Moriarty posting a level par 71 and Paul O’Hanlon a 73.

lDes Smyth is hoping home comforts can help him become the first Irish winner in the 14 year history of the Handa Irish Senior Open presented by Fálite Ireland as he is reunited with his Ryder Cup winning colleagues of 2006.

The 57 year-old is making the short commute from his home in Drogheda to this week’s host venue, Carton House GC, in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, where he will compete alongside Ian Woosnam, having been an assistant captain under the Welshman at The K Club four years ago.

Smyth is back playing full time on the Senior Tour after six years of splitting his schedule with the US Champions Tour and he feels home soil is the perfect place to capture his third Senior Tour title and first victory since the Wentworth Senior Masters in 2007.