Harrington glides in under radar with neat 68

SOMETIMES, IN the world that belongs to Pádraig Harrington, it doesn’t do an harm to occasionally glide in under the radar.

Yesterday, for the first time since 2005 and for only the second time in the past nine years, the Dubliner went into the first round of the European Tour’s final counting event of the season knowing the Order of Merit was out of his reach.

Instead, Harrington – whose run in the Order of Merit in recent years has seen him finish 2nd-2nd-3rd-3rd-32nd-1st-3rd-2nd since 2001 – could focus entirely on the tournament. And, in opening with a four-under-par 68, Harrington, without a win on tour since his 2008 US PGA success some 15 months ago, managed to get into the business end of proceedings.

That barren spell since his last tour win acts like a spur, rather than a millstone. “It’s still important (to win), or even more important. But I was careful not to chase it, it was very important to have a balanced attitude out there. It was a pretty comfortable 68,” admitted Harrington.

His round of five birdies and a lone bogey on the 12th, where he drove into a fairway bunker, constituted a decent day’s work that left him in a five-way tie for fifth, three shots behind first-round leader Robert Allenby. Although agreeing he had played better in the practice round, when it doesn’t count, he observed: “I wasn’t quite as confident off the tee, but I’d hope to find that in the next couple of days. I think this golf course suits me . . . . I’m pretty comfortable.”

Indeed, the fact Harrington doesn’t have to keep one eye on the moving and shaking in the race for the Order of Merit title is a help: “I can’t win the Race to Dubai but the event itself is good enough, it really feels like it’s an event worth winning. It has the feel of a season-ending event and they’ve done a great job to make it feel like a championship.”

While Harrington nestled in the quintet that also included Rory McIlroy on 68, the other two Irish players to break par – Peter Lawrie and Gareth Maybin each shot 71, one-under – each had the distinction of recording birdies on the 18th to put a gloss on their rounds.

Lawrie responded to a dropped shot on the 16th to finish with a birdie, while Maybin – in his rookie season – reacted to a bogey on the 17th by rolling in a six-footer on the last.

Maybin actually started off like a train, recording three birdies in his opening five holes but was disconcerted after being put on the clock midway through his round. “I didn’t think we were slow, but they said we were four minutes behind. It was a distraction,” he said.

Graeme McDowell suffered a double-bogey seven on the 18th (where he had the ignominy of putting off the green into the lake) on his way to a 76, while Damien McGrane, playing his first tournament in over three weeks, suffered three bogeys in his opening five holes before steadying the ship en route to an opening 74.