Padraig Harrington at home as he calls absent stars ‘sheep’

Pádraig Harrington has just signed his card for -1, which will be seven shots off the Australian leader Marcus Fraser. But right now he is making his first round at the Rio Olympic Golf Course feel like he’s shot a 59.

Animated, effervescent and proud, the hard number crunching of the professional golfer has today been discarded.

Harrington’s fixations have traditionally been putting grips and swing planes.

Today that has been replaced and he is cooing about heart thumping matters, things like pride and respect and a greater sense of belonging.

He’s talking about the other athletes and their invisible worlds of breathtaking dedication. Those things have won him over. He’s talking about the 1956 1500 metres gold medal. He’s talking about mosquitoes and the golfers who have decided the Olympics do not matter.

He shakes his head, takes a step back and opens his palms.

“You know what, I haven’t seen a mosquito...I tell the truth, I saw one in my room and he did not come to a good end.”

"Matchplay?" quips New York Times writer Christopher Clarey.

Gunning along Harrington is in full spate.

“I had no mosquito spray on today. You guys? Did anybody?”

He’s in the mood for freely giving because he has become intoxicated by the five rings.

Top four

There are no names mentioned, no Rory McIlroy or Jordan Spieth or Dustin Johnson, no Jason Day. There is no mention of the missing top four players in the world. But the golfers who are not here have misread the mood.

“I would have to say there was a lot of sheep in this decision. They kept just following each other out the door,” says Harrington.

“It’s hard to believe. It’s a perfect time in the schedule. The four Majors are over. What else is there to play for this year?

“I just don’t understand what anyone else thinks they’re playing for. There are four majors and you have got the Olympics. There is no point in saving yourself for anything else.

“The Ryder cup is two months away. Surely this is not affecting it.”

He could have asked Paul McGinley, the former Ryder Cup captain for Europe, who was standing a few yards away. McGinley is rooted in the Olympic camp and Harrington is now in an unstoppable flow.

“If you want to rest, there’s another eight weeks to rest,” he says. “You can rest between the Open and the PGA if you want to rest. You don’t have to rest the week of the Olympics. I definitely feel for the guys who haven’t come, I think they’re definitely losing out.”

His is a refreshing glow. Through the prism of public opinion the International Olympic Committee are often seen as a cast of ruling elite rogues, the athletes grasping and not credible and regularly fighting scandals on one or two fronts, this week doping and tickets.

They have always been an easy target, often legitimately so.

But after 21 years as a professional golfer Harrington’s wonder at this great flawed Olympic circus seems as alive in his eyes as it is in those of his children Paddy and Ciarán pottering around the enclosure.

“My son [Paddy] is 12 but he managed to be wearing my Olympic clothes out there,” he says. “It was nice to see them there supporting. They’re really into it. I think I bought tickets for ten events for the family and we’re really excited about going.”

Wildlife reserve

His round with Italian Matteo Manassero and New Zealand’s Danny Lee was an experience removed from that of regular tour golf and while no capybara, large rodents common to the area or caiman, Brazilian crocodiles, scuttled across the fairways of this one time wild life reserve, Harrington’s eyes have been opened to new things.

“I haven’t got my phone on but I’d say the second text is from Ronnie Delaney. I got one last night from him,” he says.

“This is man I would have seen at sports awards for 20 years and I’d go: ‘I want to be like that.’ I mightn’t have a gold medal but at least I’m an Olympic athlete.

“I said it to the guys walking off, ‘Now we’re Olympians and no-one can take that away from us’. And when you think about it, most weeks you have 156 guys playing and 155 losers. This week it’s 60 guys playing – and we’re all winners.

At one under par, not quite yet.

Still, there are three days to go and the proud Irishman’s heart is already pounding.