Exhausted Padraig Harrington still auto-pilots his way to an opening 70 at Irish Open

Padraig Harrington on the 11th hole of his opening round at the Horizon Irish Open at Mount Juliet. Pic: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

Padraig Harrington has tried just about everything to improve his golf game.

The three-time major champion once told a gaggle of Irish journalists that he had done little or no work over the Christmas period before running through a few dozen tweaks and fiddles to his swing, his grip and his stance.

But sometimes the best preparation can be no preparation.

He arrived back in Dublin last Monday off the back of his win at the US Senior Open in Pennsylvania and admitted that the cocktail of elation, travel, fatigue and stress was weighing down on him ahead of this week’s Irish Open duties.

Given that backdrop, he fared well in his opening round Thursday, posting a two-under-par 70 marred by the fact that a fourth birdie on the 17th, was sandwiched by a pair of bogeys.

Still, how did he find it all after, well everything?

“Well, it’s an Irish Open. You are going to get up for it. Do things a little bit different, including, I think I slept for half-an-hour at the dinner table last night. I actually fell asleep. I couldn’t even look at my phone, that’s how bad I was.

“But you take your sleep when you get it. I haven’t hit a practise shot this week, I have warmed up twice, that’s it. I saw a putting green for the first time today, I haven’t seen a practice bunker either but I just have to put up with that this week.

“What I did find out there today, which was nice, was I didn’t hit it as well as I hit it last week but I putted way better. I was really happy on the greens today, I hit a lot of really nice putts.” 

There were times when a really good round could have broken through, but it could have gone the other way too. Focus was an issue at times: on the tee box at the fourth when he ended up in the rough, and at the par-three eleventh when he found the greenside bunker.

Reminders that he has to keep his head in the game.

“I hit a lot of solid, middle-of-the-clubface shots today. Yeah, it could have been better, disappointing with the two bogeys at the end, but I knew there would be patches like that during the week where I am going to struggle a little bit.

“Two-under is okay. I will go out tomorrow and try and go forward again and if I can get a good score it is very important to have that sort of momentum in the round, just good scores going so that I don’t flatline after last week.”

Seamus Power and Niall Kearney lead the home challenge at the Horizon Irish Open with a pair of 68s, four shots shy of leader Ryan Fox of Australia, who holds a one-stroke advantage over France's Frederic Lacroix, Jorge Campillo of Spain and Germany's Marcel Schneider. 

Shane Lowry and Jonathan Caldwell are both on one-under 71.

Speaking afterwards to RTÉ, Seamus Power said he was happy enough not to play himself out of contention on the first day.

"I missed a couple of fairways on the back but was able to recover. The rough is thick and it's wet. It's a good test but as soon as you're on the fairways there are opportunities to get close. It's a balancing act, but overall it was a good day."

Lowry, meanwhile, felt his 68 was a modest effort. "I don't think I had too many bad shots. I just never really got it going," said Lowry.

"Maybe I wasn't aggressive enough. The golf course is very scoreable this morning and I hit the ball okay off the tee so I probably should have made a few more birdies."