Harrington five shots off the pace

Padraig Harrington sits five shots off the pace in the Sanderson Farms Championship,Country Club of Jackson. The former Major winner is in a group of 17 players who shot 70 in their first rounds with Denmark’s Sebastian Cappelen carding a seven under par 65 for the outright lead.

With 40 of the World’s top 50 players competing at the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai, it was expected that one of the nine former champions in the field would make their mark, but it is the 24-year-old who is setting the pace. Cappelen began with a bogey, but made eight birdies, shooting five under on the front nine and finished with a tricky par to finish two clear of the rest.

“I’m so happy, I couldn’t be happier,” Cappelen, told the Golf Channel.

“I came here just trying to get a new experience, trying to get a feel for how it feels to play on the real tour.

“I had a great time out there today and hit a lot of great shots. It was fun. I’ll try to just keep that going, take that with me into tomorrow.”

American pair Robert Streb and Scott Pinckney as well as Canadian Nick Taylor are on five under, with Streb’s bogey at the last a frustrating end to what had been up to then, a blemish-free round. Pinckney dropped shots at eight and 17, following birdies from 14 through 16, while Taylor did not register a bogey.

Nine players, including David Duval and Ben Curtis are a further shot back on four under par, while defending champion Woody Austin shot a 70.

Missippi Leaderboard:

65 Sebastian Cappelen (Den)

67 Scott null Pinckney, Nick Taylor (Can), Robert Streb

68 Andres Gonzales, David Toms , David Duval, Ben Curtis, William McGirt, Alex Prugh, Charlie Wi (Kor), John Rollins, Jason Bohn

69 Jason Kokrak, Mark null Hubbard, Zack null Sucher, Lee Janzen, David Hearn (Can), John null Peterson, Heath Slocum, Brendan Steele, Oscar Fraustro (Mex), Tom Gillis, Jim Herman

70 Charley Hoffman , Woody Austin , Daniel null Berger, Carlos Sainz J, Peter Uihlein, Sean O’Hair, Boo Weekley, Jason Gore, Jerry Kelly, Shawn Stefani, Kyle Stanley, Nicholas Thompson, Alex Cejka (Ger), Chad Collins, John Huh, Josh Teater, Padraig Harrington (Irl)