YOU PICK your moments, and yesterday Pádraig Harrington – once upon a time the trendsetter – chose the opening round of the 76th Masters to emerge from the shadows. The spotlight, aka some glorious southern sunshine before the storms gathered, found a willing accomplice as the 40-year-old Dubliner opened his bid for a green jacket with a 71, one-under-par, that he later described as a “decent” start. It was that, and more.

Harrington, a three-time Major champion, has so often been put on the back foot in his endeavours to contend in the Masters. The problem has been a poor start. Indeed, in the previous five years, he had opening rounds of 77-74-69-74-77. There was no stumble this time, as his mainly solid play tee to green was followed by a better day with the putter. “I’m glad it’s up and running. Any time you shoot under par, you’re never going to have a problem (with your score).”

It was all a stark difference to last year, when Harrington suffered a neck injury in a pre-round warm-up routine on the range and struggled to complete his swings. Twelve months on, the contrast was stark. On Wednesday, between shots, he carried his four-year-old son Ciarán on his shoulders en route to tying Jonathan Byrd in the Par Three competition. A winning start to the week, and no thought whatsoever of the jinx.

“I don’t believe in that,” said Harrington of the supposed jinx that has afflicted winners of the Par Three in their attempts to land the big prize later in the week. “I never played a tournament where I didn’t try on every shot. I wouldn’t play (in the Par Three) if I wasn’t trying. I like winning.”

With a gallery of the great and the good of the business and sporting world outside the ropes – among those following Harrington were businessmen JP McManus and Dermot Desmond and Augusta “rookie” Nicky English, the former Tipperary All-Ireland hurling winner as both player and manager – watching on, Harrington’s three-ball with Stewart Cink and Steve Stricker proved to be a friendly one in more ways than one. All three signed for 71s.

Harrington kick-started his round in some style on the par-five second hole. His tee shot toyed with danger down the left – missing the cathedral pines – and finished on the left side of the fairway. From there, he hit a five-iron, from 229 yards, and finished eight feet above the hole. He rolled in the eagle putt.

Prior to the championship, Harrington had described his putter as his “Achilles heel” of late. On the front nine, he had no fewer than six singles putts as the blade, for the most part, behaved. He bogeyed the fourth, where he found the front trap, and bogeyed the seventh, where he missed from two and a half feet, but he played the par-five eighth beautifully and chipped and putted for a birdie. A fighting par save on the ninth, where he drove into trees and hit his recovery 20 yards in front of the green, saw him turn in 25, one-under.

A bogey on the 11th, where he was the victim of a mud ball, brought him back to level par but he produced a fine approach to the par-five 15th, hitting a five-wood from 249 yards to eight feet. Although he failed with the eagle putt, he tapped in the birdie to return to one-under. On the 17th, he made a good par save from a greenside bunker.

Most pleasing aspect of the round? “My putting, it looks like I turned a little bit of a corner with the putting,” he replied. “I’m very relaxed about it. My whole game, I know it’s good, and at the end of the day I’ll just let it happen, play away and see what the result is. I’m not trying to put too much emphasis on the results. Just play golf and see what happens.”

Second round tee times

(players are USA unless stated, all times BST)

1250 Scott Verplank, Sean O’Hair, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa)

1301 Mark O’Meara, Chez Reavie, Martin Laird (Sco)

1312 Sandy Lyle (Sco), Simon Dyson (Eng), (x) Corbin Mills

1323 Ian Woosnam (Wal), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Kevin Chappell

1334 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Mark Wilson, Graeme McDowell (N Irl)

1345 Zach Johnson, Ian Poulter (Eng), (x) Patrick Cantlay

1356 Kevin Na, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Ben Crane

1407 John Senden (Aus), Jonathan Byrd, Paul Casey (Eng)

1418 Bernhard Langer (Ger), Jason Dufner, Charles Howell

1429 Mike Weir (Can), Brandt Snedeker, Webb Simpson

1440 Vijay Singh (Fij), Lee Westwood (Eng), Jim Furyk

1502 Thomas Bjorn (Den), Scott Stallings, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa)

1513 Fred Couples, Darren Clarke (N Irl), Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn)

1524 David Toms, KJ Choi (Kor), Sergio Garcia (Spa)

1535 Angel Cabrera (Arg), Rory McIlroy (N Irl), Bubba Watson

1546 Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan, Peter Hanson (Swe)

1557 Craig Stadler, Brendan Steele, Tim Clark (Rsa)

1608 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa), Robert Garrigus, (x) Randal Lewis

1619 Larry Mize, Paul Lawrie (Sco), Anders Hansen (Den)

1630 Ross Fisher (Eng), Ryan Palmer, Harrison Frazar

1641 Ben Crenshaw, Robert Karlsson (Swe), (x) Bryden Macpherson (Aus)

1652 Adam Scott (Aus), Bo Van Pelt, Martin Kaymer (Ger)

1714 Steve Stricker, Pádraig Harrington (Irl), Stewart Cink

1725 Aaron Baddeley (Aus), KT Kim (Kor), Lucas Glover

1736 Kyle Stanley, Jason Day (Aus), Bill Haas

1747 Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose (Eng)

1758 Tom Watson, Johnson Wagner, (x) Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)

1809 Matt Kuchar, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), YE Yang (Kor)

1820 Gary Woodland, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Alvaro Quiros (Spa)

1831 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Keegan Bradley, (x) Kelly Kraft

1842 Tiger Woods, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Bae Sang-moon (Kor)

1853 Luke Donald (Eng), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Nick Watney

(x) denotes amateurs