Harrington playing catch-up

European tour/Shanghai:The British Open champion Padraig Harrington is confident of playing catch-up at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai after joining a host of world stars four shots adrift of the surprise early leaders at Sheshan International Golf Club.

Harrington, along with US Open champion Angel Cabrera, world number two Phil Mickelson and fellow Ryder Cup colleague Paul Casey, shot an opening round of four-under-par 68 and will be looking to reel in Sweden's BMW International Open winner Niclas Fasth and American Kevin Stadler, who lead third-placed Vijay Singh by three strokes.

Stadler needed a 15th-place finish at last week's Children's Miracle Classic, the final event of the 2007 PGA season, to secure his 2008 card after finishing 124th on the money list, receiving a full exemption by just one place.

Harrington had a host of birdie opportunities on the front nine, but only managed to convert a five-foot putt at the first and back-to-back birdies at seven and eight.

The 36-year-old then found the unforgiving rough at nine and 10 to drop back to one-under, but converted a 30-footer at 12 and tough 15-foot chance at 14 to round off a run of three consecutive birdies.

Harrington missed a 10-foot putt at the last, but knows he is in the thick of the action, even though he is well aware his first round could have gone a lot better.

"I holed a couple of putts, if I had holed a couple of short ones, I would be up there myself. It doesn't matter how tough you set-up the golf course, how much water there is, somebody is going to play well. I see eight-under out there everyday," said Harrington, who missed out on retaining the European Order of Merit title last week after only managing a fourth-place finish behind eventual winner Justin Rose at the Volvo Masters.

"I played really well early on and missed a lot of opportunities and then I had a couple of missed fairways and made two bogeys around the turn.

"After eight holes I could have been eight-under, but at three-under all of a sudden I dropped two shots and I was kicking myself at one-under.

"But I then holed a couple of putts and got right back to four-under-par. I know there are a couple of eight-unders, but it's a 72 hole event, so there is plenty of time to catch up."

England's Casey, who qualified for the event after winning the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in January, is also confident of maintaining his challenge in Shanghai after opening the new European Tour season with six birdies and two bogeys.

(Irish in bold, British unless stated, par 72)

Leading Scores

64 - K Stadler (USA), N Fasth (Swe)

67 - V Singh (Fij)

68 - R Fisher, A Cabrera (Arg), A McLardy (Rsa), P Mickelson (USA), P Casey, KJ Choi (Kor), R Sterne (Rsa), Padraig Harrington (Irl)

69 - S Webster, F Minoza (Phi), R Goosen (Rsa), B Rumford (Aus), S Hend (Aus), A Romero (Arg), S Sterling (USA), W Liang (Chn), M Brier (Aut), C Nirat (Tha)

70 - G Ghei (Ind), A Hansen (Den), L Zhang (Chn), S Yates, D Fichardt (Rsa), JM Lara (Spa), D Vancsik (Arg), I Poulter, L Westwood, H Stenson (Swe), J Randhawa (Ind).

71 - S Kjeldsen (Den), W Lin (Tai), N Dougherty, L Oosthuizen (Rsa), J Knutzon (USA), R Jacquelin (Fra), K Kim (Kor), J Pagunsan (Phi), Y Yang (Kor), G Fdez-Castano (Spa).

72 - P Hanson (Swe), B Sang- moon (Pkr), G Havret (Fra)

73 - M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), R Pampling (Aus), C Schwartzel (Rsa), S Hansen (Den), C Montgomerie, J Senden (Aus), P Hedblom (Swe), S Lee (Kor), N Green (Aus), S Garcia (Spa), R Green (Aus), P Martin (Spa), B Dredge

74 - H Otto (Rsa), M Ilonen (Fin), B Vaughan (Rsa), N O'Hern (Aus), T Jaidee (Tha), C Suneson (Spa), M Leishman (Aus), P Sheehan (Aus).