Frustrated Padraig Harrington rues missed opportunity

There is never very much glory to be enjoyed at the outset of a major championship but after his first competitive round at Royal Birkdale since he lifted the Claret Jug in 2008, Pádraig Harrington had hoped for a better outcome than his opening 73.

Nine years on from that career-defining final-round five wood at the 17th from 249 yards to three feet, Ireland’s three-time major winner yesterday posted a birdie-free three over par score to let some of the air out of Harrington’s pre-tournament confidence.

It was a round that never ignited in conditions that were the toughest of the day on the Lancashire coast, a bogey at the par-four seventh and a double bogey at the 11th the only variations from a round of pars.