Maybin leads Irish charge

SOUTH AFRICA’S James Kingston was on top of the pile at eight under par 64 after day one of the Portugal Masters saw 31 players achieve a score of five under or better.

But the healthy state of Irish golf was further illustrated with Gareth Maybin showing the way to a host of his compatriots at the top of the leaderboard, shooting a sparkling seven under 65 as he looked to continue the impressive form of Irish golfers.

He said: “Obviously there’s a boom at the minute especially with Michael Hoey getting a great win at the Dunhill.

“Someone tells me it’s the Guinness, but it’s a good crop of players and they’re shining at the minute.”

Pádraig Harrington’s new lease of life under coach Pete Cowen was evident again as he shot a fine 67 to lie just three shots off the leader.

The ever consistent Peter Lawrie was on the same mark where he was joined by Gary Murphy. Shane Lowry and Damien McGrane are also well in the hunt after both shot 69s.

Meanwhile, Cowen believes he can help Harrington put his recent woes behind him and return to the top of the game.

Three-time major winner Harrington has plummeted down the world rankings to 78th, from a high of third in 2008.

He turned to Cowen in August, hoping the Englishman could help him improve his swing and once-potent short game.

“With time, he’s now capable of getting back to being the best short-game player in the world,” Cowen said.

“Padraig came and asked me at the Bridgestone [tournament] if I would give an opinion on his swing and what I thought might improve it. He thought he was spending far too much time on his long game, to the detriment of his short game. Padraig won two majors in 2008 with the best short game in the world. He felt as though he’d neglected that and when you looked at the stats it proved it. He’d become almost non-competitive.

“He’s good at bashing himself on the range and he couldn’t understand why he wasn’t getting any better. Padraig told me he had the wrong feeling with his swing. I then explained how he could get rid of that feeling.

“I just tried to simplify his action. It was complicated and required massive amounts of time. I felt he needed better mechanics which need less time spent on it.

“We’ve put a lot more stability on his right side on the backswing so he supports the club better, a simple movement which then needs constant repetition. Then he can make the right action on the through-swing. If you load the swing right, you unload it correctly.

“I’ve given him a training aid for the range that does that while he’s swinging.

“It’s a two-thumb grip put on in a certain way on the shaft. He’s now more comfortable with his long game and can concentrate more on his short game again.

“Obviously Bob’s (Torrance, coach who Harrington ‘took a break’ from in July) done a great job because Padraig’s won three majors but we all know that it’s the short game that makes the difference in the long run.”