Irish duo trim England's advantage

Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington made a good start in their attempt to climb back into contention at golf’s World Cup in Portugal today.

An opening 67 had left the 1997 winners only a stroke off last place, but switching from fourballs to foursomes provided an opportunity to move through the field.

And after McGinley made a 12-foot birdie putt on the second Harrington’s chip to within a yard of the flag at the long third lifted them to seven under par.

That was still six shots adrift of overnight leaders England, however, and both Luke Donald and David Howell were positively oozing confidence following their first day 59.

Donald lifted the title with Paul Casey in Seville a year ago, but as the leading Englishman in the world rankings two months ago he had the choice of partner and chose the second-ranked Howell.

Last Sunday, of course, Howell defeated Tiger Woods in Shanghai, a victory which moved him two places ahead of Donald at 13th in the world.

Only a shot behind were Australians Mark Hensby and Peter Lonard and also Indians Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal.