Irish Open: Padraig Harrington impresses on return despite one brush with trouble

The 49-year old was out-driving his playing partner and showing off his legendary short game. But this? This was unexpected.

The incredulous but amused look on Justin Harding's face spoke for us all.

This was the South African's first time partnering Padraig Harrington for 18 holes. He'd already told the on-course reporter about the Ryder Cup captain's superb short game and observed how the 49-year old was out-driving him too, but this? This was unexpected.

Harrington's third shot to the par-five 10th had ended up at the back of the green and to the left, somewhere amid a patch of nettles and a spread of rhododendrons. Among them was a huge and very dead branch with limbs and leaves scattered in all directions.

Cue a spot of impromptu landscaping with Harrington and caddy Ronan Flood eventually lifting the obstruction over their heads and carting them off like a pair of lumberjacks. Golfers have tinkered in course design for as long as the game has been played but this was something new.

“It was pretty standard really,” Harrington explained. “You can move anything that is not attached. It was strange actually. I was moving the branch for the wrong golf ball. The marshal pointed a golf ball to me and I was being delicate clearing around it.

“I realised it wasn’t mine and then I spotted mine two feet away. It was very heavy…. I am very very strong,” he laughed. “It was actually dead and light but it looked good."

The pity is that all he had to show for his spot of landscaping was a sore hand where he sliced it on a pointy bit and a double bogey that left him two over par. Maybe the only surprise is that it was the only real off-road excitement he had.

This was Harrington's first round of competitive golf since the Arnold Palmer Invitational six months ago so a one-over 71 with three birdies, two bogeys back-to-back at six and seven and that double made for a more than decent return.

“Seventy-one sounds good and it was a mixed bag. It was messy in places, but I really enjoyed it. It was just a bit rusty. There was lots of good stuff and even the bad stuff I was more than happy with it. Not shooting 71, but the golf.

“Clubbing was difficult. I hit a lot of shots long with a few irons going further than expected and a few coming up short. Ultimately it was the par fives that cost me. Yesterday I played them in the practice round and was three under for them and today I played them in two over.

“That’s a five shot difference and the story of the day.”

Not quite. He left five putts behind him too. This wasn't far off a finely polished round and the manner of his chipping in particular highlighted just how much work he has done around the garden he has converted at home to work on his game.

If anything felt strange it was the absence of a gallery for his national event. There were times when habit kicked in and he made to doff his cap to the crowd and he allowed himself a wave to the non-existent crowd after his third birdie at 15.

“Thankfully my group all day had a camera crew with us so it still had that tournament feel to it and we had great marshals so we were not struggling to find golf balls. The atmosphere was missing but hopefully people were watching at home and got a bit of a buzz out of it.”