EVEN Fred Couples reckoned that 69 or 70 was "a pretty good score." So, Padraig Harrington had reason to be well pleased with a first round 70 on his US professional debut in the $1.9 million Sarazen World Open here at Chateau Elan yesterday. Still, it left him five strokes adrift of the surprise leader, Todd Barranger, on 6.

The 29 year old from Knoxville, Tennessee, who qualified as winner of the 1996 Thailand Open, birdied his last hole - the long ninth - to edge clear of defending champion, Frank Nobilo. Despite admitted nerves at playing with Jack Nicklaus, the New Zealander sank a 10 foot eagle putt at the long 14th on his way to a 66.

All four Irish challengers shot 73 or better, due largely to strong finishes. They each started on the 10th and while Harrington was three under for his last four holes, McGinley (71), Burns (73) and Walton (73) carded a total of five birdies over that same stretch.

With temperatures rising into the 80s and hardly a breath of wind, conditions seemed to be made for low scoring. But demanding pin placements on extremely difficult greens, ensured that a healthy degree of sanity prevailed on the leaderboard.

The general consensus was that the deceptive pace of severely sloping greens with tricky nap, made them only marginally less difficult than those at Augusta National. The assessment would certainly have brought no argument from America's Davis Love, who took four putts from the wrong side of a treacherous hump in the middle of the green at the long ninth. A potential 68 suddenly became a 70.

This was the hole where Harrington displayed the sort of shot making skill that led to such an extraordinary debut season in Europe. After a pushed drive and a skied three wood second, he was faced with a 45 yard pitch to the pin, with the green sloping away from him.

Using the L wedge to perfection, he actually succeeded in stopping the ball two feet from the target the sort of shot one would associate with Seve Ballesteros in his hey day. And a broad grin indicated that the player knew he had done well. "The funny thing is that I have struggled with that particular shot for most of the year," he said.

His play of the back nine was highlighted by a run of birdies from the 15th to the 17th, where he sank putts of three feet, to feet and 12 feet. But his appearance at the top of the early leaderboard was short lived, after a poor drive into trees led to a bogey at the 18th (his ninth).

Indeed Harrington's round became a curious mixture of the sparkling and the sloppy, no doubt a consequence of travel tiredness. But he scrambled brilliantly, like for instance at the first, where he was forced to take a penalty drop from trees but limited the damage to a bogey by sinking a 20 foot putt.

"I have to be happy with six birdies on a course of this quality," said Harrington, whose only previous US appearance was an undistinguished one in the 1993 Walker Cup matches at Interlachen. "I love the beautiful, natural look of the course, but the greens are very, very tricky."

McGinley was in the first three ball of the day, at 7.40am local time. Level par on the tee at the 452 yard 17th (his eighth), he made a splendid birdie there, hitting a three iron second shot of 206 yards to 12 feet from the pin and sinking the putt. This left him one under at the turn but a drive behind a tree at the second (his 11th) brought him back to level par.

So he remained until the ninth. There, McGinley cut a three wood second shot of 233 yards directly for the pin, stopping 12 feet short. Two putts from there gave him a closing birdie. It was a satisfactory round, considering the difficulty of the pin placements," he said.

When Walton spun a sandwedge third shot off the green at the long fifth and into a hazard for a bogey six, he stood a depressing three over par for the round. But he responded with birdies at the next two holes, sinking a six footer at the sixth and hitting a wedge to within six inches of the pin at the 124 yard seventh.

He then went on to complete his work with a glorious, lag putt to within a foot of the pin at the ninth. "I made a few fundamental errors out there but generally, my game was in reasonable shape," he said. "I putted well."

Burns was stunned by a miserable, triple bogey seven at the 18th, where he found horrendous trouble off a blocked drive and, almost inevitably, eventually three putted. But he held on to be no worse off after six holes of the front nine. Then he wedged to 25 feet for a birdie at the short seventh and sank a 22 footer for a closing birdie at the ninth.

Paul Broadhurst, who came close to winning at The K Club at the end of September, leads the European challenge on 69, with compatriot Gary Marks and Sweden's Daniel Chopra. Having started on the 10th, the key to Broadhurst's score lay in a burst of four birdies on the opening five holes of the front nine.

Meanwhile, Barranger, whose primary tour affiliation is the Asian circuit, matched Nobilo's eagle on the 14th (four iron to two feet), while keeping a bogey off his card.