We’re still in the hunt, says Harrington

Pádraig Harrington had predicted smiles aplenty among the players at Carton House this week but those decorating the face of the Dubliner and playing partner Graeme McDowell faded soon after the ovation on 18.

Harrington’s day started badly and finished well with two early bogeys and a strong finish. McDowell’s took the opposite course with an outward nine of two-under spoiled somewhat by one dropped shot on 17.

The net effect was identical. One-under par. Five off the lead.

Not a disaster according to Harrington, who told RTÉ of his suspicion that two low rounds and a pair of decent efforts such as those posted by this pair on the opening day would be enough to keep the title in Ireland.

Both have been fiddling with a golf game that has bartered some good with some bad over the course of the year and Harrington, though born and bred just half an hour down the road, found the damp conditions an added burden.

“It confuses me when the ball goes as short as it does in the climate here. I am used to the ball going a long, long way and that is one of the reasons why I struggled with a lot of my iron shots and approach shots. I was never quite sure or confident in the shot I selected.

“I am used to playing in the heat now. On the very first hole I was 159 yards from the flag and at times in the States I’d be considering, in the same wind direction, a nine iron or maybe an eight. I’d say I hit six iron. That’s quite a shock to the system.”

Harrington took time to adapt, carding bogeys at the par-four second and par-three third, but he added just the one more dropped shot while undoing the damage with four birdies, three of them on the back nine. He sounded cheered, if not elated, by his ability to leave those early struggles behind, even if his focus drifted at times, but one under was deemed a decent score, all things considered, and McDowell concurred.

“A little disappointed with the finish,” said the Antrim man. “I actually hit the ball solidly today. This is a tough golf course. The guys scored very well this morning, four and five-under par. You must drive the ball well here. I’m not driving it as well as I would like to, but the rest of my game is in good shape. You’ve got to chip well here.

“It’s very hard to hit it on a lot of the greens and I hung in well. I missed a lot of putts I could have made and I made a few that I shouldn’t have made. It was kind of an indifferent day on the greens. Like I say, disappointed with the finish but all in all some good ball striking and looking forward to getting back out there in the morning.”

No terminal damage done by either man on day one, then, but another round in the low 70s would leave them needing two special rounds over the weekend in order to elevate them into the meat grinder come Sunday.

“Who knows what the end of the week the scoring will be?” said Harrington, “but if you are looking at similar conditions, I don’t think this is a golf course that everybody will just… sometimes you’ll turn up at a golf course and guys will shoot six-under all four days or close to it. But I think this is more of a golf course that the leader is more likely to shoot a couple of good scores and a couple of 70s, 71s.

“So my 71 is fine but I will need to shoot 66 at some stage this week and maybe two of them.”