Harrington straight back in the groove

Padraig Harrington opened the new season with no sign of his liking for the leaderboard being diminished at the BMW Asian Open in Taiwan.

Two weeks ago the Irishman failed in his bid to overtake Retief Goosen in the race for the European Tour Order of Merit title, meaning he had finished runner-up for the second consecutive year.

Without doubt Harrington missed an excellent opportunity to take the crown, but he showed his mind had firmly moved on to next year's money list as he opened with four birdies in his first 10 holes over the Ta Shee course, in what is officially the first tournament on the 2003 tour.

In unexpectedly windy and wet conditions, the 31-year-old picked up shots at the third, fifth, sixth and ninth in a joint best-of-day outward half of 32 to lie four shots off the lead blisteringly set by Indian Jyoti Randhawa.

Paul McGinley also recorded a solid start, but his round of 70 was somewhat ruined by a double-bogey six at the ninth - his final hole.

The 30-year-old former Singapore Open champion carded a seven-under-par round of 65 that included six birdies and an eagle over the 7,101-yard course to put him a shot clear