Harrington and Immelman struggle at Abu Dhabi Championship

Padraig Harrington and Trevor Immelman, winners of three majors between them last year, were left with plenty of ground to make up after their opening rounds of the Abu Dhabi Championship today.

Open and US PGA champion Harrington, in his first appearance of 2009, returned a one-under-par 71 to be five behind the early clubhouse leader, Swede Johan Edfors.

Immelman, who struck gold at the Masters last April, had to be content with a level-par 72.

Play was held up for more than two hours after a hailstorm flooded the course.

The deluge came just after 9am. Harrington and Immelman had both started with four successive pars to be only two off the lead and on their return birdies still proved hard to find.

It was not until the long second, his 11th, that Harrington managed one and although another came on the short seventh, that followed his one bogey of the day.

South African Immelman turned in a one-over 37 and while he also had two birdies on the front nine there was also a bogey six at the second.

Edfors had a golden opportunity to set an even stiffer target, three-putting the last for a par five and six-under 66.

The former Scottish Open champion preferred to remember that he had three successive birdies either side of the hold-up and another hat-trick at the start of the back nine.

Compatriot Mikael Lundberg, twice a winner of the Russian Open, was alongside him with one to play, while another of the Swedish contingent, Jarmo Sandelin, and Italian Francesco Molinari were one back.

Biggest surprise was that world number 12 Henrik Stenson, twice a winner just before Christmas, struggled to a four-over 76.

That included a triple-bogey seven on the 16th when he played the wrong ball from the dense rough. It was of the same type and number, but he did not identify it closely enough and only after hitting the shot did he discover it did not have his personal mark on it.

Defending champion Martin Kaymer outshone playing partners Harrington and Stenson with a 68, while among the later starters were world number two Sergio Garcia and Colin Montgomerie.

Garcia was off and running with a birdie, but Montgomerie did the same as Immelman by taking six on the second.