Experience helps Harrington navigate opening round on soft greens at Irish Open

EXPERICNCE: The 2007 Irish Open winner did not make the impact on the tournament leaderboard he would have hoped for on Thursday as he got his 30th consecutive appearance in his national Open underway in the morning calm before persistent showers returned to the former Ryder Cup venue. Yet his experience in shooting a two-over-par 74, eight shots off the first-round lead. 

You can always rely on Padraig Harrington to provide the best synopsis of what is required to successful navigate the golf course on any given tournament week and after 18 holes of the Amgen Irish Open, the three-time major champion was once again up to the task.

The 2007 Irish Open winner did not make the impact on the tournament leaderboard he would have hoped for on Thursday as he got his 30th consecutive appearance in his national Open underway in the morning calm before persistent showers returned to the former Ryder Cup venue. Yet his experience in shooting a two-over-par 74, eight shots off the first-round lead held jointly by Spain’s Nacho Elvira, Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen and Romain Langasque of France, confirmed to him what it will take to win here on Sunday evening.

The Palmer North course is, in Harrington’s view, 40 yards longer but playing four clubs shorter than when he first stepped onto the Kildare track in the 1990s and he said: “The one thing that doesn’t scare professional golfers is length. Rough doesn’t scare professional golfers.

“The only thing if you want to make your golf course difficult is firm greens and then fast greens. Those two things, that’s really a big separator for pros because you’ve got to hit it into the fairway if you’re going into a firm green, because you’re going to struggle with a chip and putt if you’re playing into firm and fast greens.

“So that’s where it’s really at and that’s why you’ll see good scoring. If the weather’s okay.” 

Elvira’s explanation for his joint tournament-leading opening round, a six-under-par 66, underlined Harrington’s assessment. Asked what he needed to do to stay in contention over the next three rounds, the Spaniard said: “Hit it straight. I haven't been able to hit it very straight lately. When my iron play is very solid, when I'm on the fairway, I manage to score.

“I've been struggling with that lately and hopefully I can keep it on the fairway often. I hit the ball pretty decent, probably the best I've played in the last two, three months I would say.

“But I putted really well and I tried not to put myself in dangerous situations. I was in play off the tee pretty much all day.

“And then the greens are soft; very difficult to control the spin. But they are very receptive, so I took advantage and I made a lot of putts.” 

Elvira had briefly been joined at the top of the leaderboard on six under by his younger brother Manuel, who made his charge during an afternoon of frequent downpours before falling back to four-under after late bogies sent him to a 68 as the light deteriorated. Play was eventually suspended at 20.15 with the final groups, including Ireland’s Alex Maguire, negotiating their final holes on the ninth and 18th. Yet Nacho Elvira did give up sole leadership late on, to both Langasque and Olesen, the 2018 Ryder Cupper who recovered from a double-bogey five at the third hole to rattle in eight birdies, five of them on the back nine that include two chip-ins from off the green.

Yet the frontrunners after 18 holes came predominantly from the morning wave of starters, most of whom completed their day’s work before a 45-minute delay in play due to the threat of lightning. Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger’s, Englishman Daniel Brown, Adrien Saddier of France each recorded 67s, five under par, to finish day a shot off the lead while South African Zander Lombard failed to complete his round and was stranded on his final hole on five under when play was called for the day in near darkness.

Shane Lowry leads the home contingent on three under after three momentum-changing birdies on his homeward nine, having started on the 10th.

Lowry played with a new driver in his bag and admitted he had got his tournament underway not knowing how it would perform.

I don't know if it's that much longer. It's not faster, it probably just spins a little bit differently. I've been spinning the ball a lot this year, it's been going a bit short so I've gone for a different model head.

“I didn't know what I was going to do today because I actually didn't get to… I played Portmarnock on Tuesday and I had nine holes here on Monday and nine holes yesterday with it, but in bad weather yesterday,” Lowry said after carding his 69.

“So I didn't know how it was going to perform today. Probably the reason why I missed it right on the first because the road was on the left, but the rest of the day I felt like I drove it pretty good.” 

Despite his brush with the rules officials after his group was put on the clock and two bogeys in his final three holes for an opening one-under 71, Masters champion Rory McIlroy was happy with his play as he returned to the scene of his 2016 Irish Open victory.

“It was pretty good. For the most part, I hit it well off the tee,” McIlroy said.

"I had that drive on 15 that went in the water and made a bogey there, but apart from that, I felt like off the tee was pretty good, iron play was pretty solid.

"Yeah, everything was quite good. I think if I had a par the last three holes, I would have felt pretty good about the round, but letting two shots go there in the last three holes… 

"But certainly encouraged by how I played and some of the shots that I saw out there.”