Golf: Pádraig Harrington dashed back to Tampa after attending a St. Patrick's Day party at the White House to shoot a two-under 69 in the opening round of the Transitions Championship where American Garrett Willis leads after carding a 65.
Harrington is well-placed, just four off the lead. His round was helped by a closing birdie on the difficult 445 yard par-four 18th which features 10 bunkers.
After grinding out 10 straight pars, the Dubliner finally got into red figures on the par five 11th as he chipped in from behind the green.
That eagle was promptly followed with a birdie at the next, a 38-foot putt eliciting a wry smile from playing partner Kenny Perry, but a rare miscue led to him blotting his copybook at the 14th. With another shot dropped at the 17th, and the daunting 18th to come, Harrington appeared to be heading for a mediocre finish.
But he carded one of just a handful of birdies at the last to finish on two under and remain in the hunt heading into today’s second round.
Willis, playing on a sponsors exemption, holds a two-stroke lead over six players including Retief Goosen and Jim Furyk at the Innisbrook resort.
The 36-year-old, whose only win on the PGA Tour came over nine years ago in Tucson, took advantage of lighter winds for the early starters, shooting 30 on the back nine.
"I was fortunate to get off early before the wind really started kicking up…when there is wind here then it is very difficult. I was happy to get done when I did," said Willis.
Two-time US Open winner Goosen from South Africa and Sweden’s Carl Pettersson were the two international players tied in second along with Americans Furyk, Jonathan Byrd, Jeff Maggert and Rickie Fowler.
Goosen said the direction of the wind was causing particular problems, even though he coped well.
"It was playing cross on the whole course, every shot there was a cross wind. There were no holes where you were really playing downwind or straight into the wind," he said.
Pettersson, who won the first of his three PGA Tour events on the Innisbrook course, is aiming for his second top 10 finish of the year.
Last year's British Open winner Stewart Cink had a nightmare start and faces a fight to avoid missing the cut after a seven over 78.
Cink made a horrendous start and was seven over after eight holes having made 17 putts and hitting just three greens in the gusty winds.
Spain's Sergio Garcia and England's Ian Poulter both finished two over while Fiji's Vijay Singh withdrew before the start due to a back injury and was replaced by Maggert.
Collated first round scores in the PGA Tour Transitions Championship, Innisbrook, A Salamander Golf & Spa Resort, Tampa Bay, Florida, US
(US unless stated, par 71):
65 Garrett Willis
67 Jeff Maggert, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen (Rsa), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Rickie Fowler, Jonathan Byrd
68 J.B. Holmes, Ross Fisher (Eng), Jeff Quinney, Steve Elkington (Aus)
69 Spencer Levin, Lucas Glover, John Senden (Aus), Alex Cejka (Ger), K J Choi (Kor), Brandt Snedeker, Stephen Ames (Can), Josh Teater, Pádraig Harrington (Irl)
70 Brian Stuard, John Daly, Bill Haas, Brett Quigley, Roland Thatcher, Jimmy Walker, Martin Laird (Sco), Nicholas Thompson, Jerry Kelly, Steve Stricker, Jason Dufner, Steve Flesch, Steve Lowery, Bubba Watson, Fred Funk, Charlie Wi (Kor), Brad Faxon, D.A. Points, Ricky Barnes, Mathew Goggin (Aus), Trevor Immelman (Rsa)
71 Brian Davis (Eng), Scott McCarron, Chris DiMarco, Brian Gay, Joe Ogilvie, Tom Lehman, James Nitties (Aus), Matthew Jones (Aus), Kenny Perry, Justin Leonard, Matthew Every, Boo Weekley, Luke Donald (Eng), Ryan Moore
72 J.P. Hayes, David Duval, James Driscoll, Nick O'Hern (Aus), Matt Bettencourt, Charles Howell III, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Bob Estes, Sean O'Hair, Tim Petrovic, Bo Van Pelt, Briny Baird, Brendon De Jonge, Kris Blanks, Greg Chalmers (Aus), Lee Janzen, Ted Purdy, Jason Day (Aus), Dustin Johnson, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Kevin Na, George McNeill, J J Henry, Corey Pavin, Johnson Wagner
73 Nick Watney, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Kevin Sutherland, Greg Owen (Eng), Heath Slocum, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl), Webb Simpson, Will MacKenzie, Jeff Klauk, Nathan Green (Aus), Justin Rose (Eng), Bob Heintz, Rodney Pampling (Aus), Adam Scott (Aus), Zach Johnson, Scott Piercy, Parker McLachlin, Derek Lamely, John Rollins, Richard S Johnson (Swe), Chad Collins, Ian Poulter (Eng), Troy Merritt
74 Rod Perry, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Omar Uresti, David Toms, Chez Reavie, Mark Wilson, Blake Adams, Ty Harris, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn), Andres Romero (Arg), Tom Gillis, Brett Wetterich, Troy Matteson, Stuart Appleby (Aus)
75 Michael Letzig, Bryce Molder, Pat Perez, Jeff Overton, Vaughn Taylor, Woody Austin, Chris Couch, Greg Kraft, Ben Bates, Paul Goydos, Cameron Beckman, Ryan Armour, John Huston, Rocco Mediate, Jason Bohn
76 Robert Karlsson (Swe), Bill Lunde
77 Michael Bradley, Rich Beem
78 Chris null Stroud, Stewart Cink, Alex Prugh
80 Patrick Moore
81 Steve Wheatcroft
83 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn)