EERIE. At a time when two men officially ranked in the world's top five were struggling with both the weather and the course - a stretch of terrain still considered one of the toughest on the circuit a rookie, albeit a rather exceptional rawhide, was teaching everyone a lesson in the first round of the £750,000 Smurfit European Open at the K Club yesterday.
On a day which mixed a strong and persistent southerly wind with copious, if infrequent amounts of rainfall, Padraig Harrington stole the show. For the best part of 14 years, ever since John O'Leary became the last Irishman to win a European Tour event on home turf, the weight of expectations (and, perhaps, the pre-tournament distractions) have proven a burden for the home players.
But the 25-year-old Dubliner coolly discarded such notions to fire a course record, seven-under-par 65 to assume the overnight leadership.
His feat left Tom Lehman, who scrambled a 74, shaking his head disbelievingly. "I'm genuinely surprised at the scoring," said the British Open champion. Colin Montgomerie, three places ahead of the American in the world rankings in second position, said: "It was a difficult day, a difficult day for scoring. It is hard to believe some of the scores." Montgomerie mustered a 73.
The scoring was, indeed, pretty remarkable. No fewer than 34 players managed to dip below par, with Harrington securing a one-shot advantage over Sweden's Niclas Fasth, who, just an hour previously, had equalled the course record 66 set by Roger Chapman last year.
Of the so-called "big guns", Ryder Cup player Costantino Rocca fared best with a 67, while defending champion Bernhard Langer (71) managed to remain very much in touch.
No one was getting too carried away, though, least of all Harrington. The Irishman's calm demeanour was, perhaps, a sign of just how much he has progressed since making his professional debut, on a sponsor's invite, in this tournament 12 months ago when he opened with a 77. Yesterday's round was 12 shots better, but Harrington's philosophy was, ironically, best summed up by Europe's number one Montgomerie.
The big Scot remarked: "There is still three rounds to go and you don't get paid after the first day." True. And Harrington, a qualified accountant, is aware of the fact more than anyone.
Still, Harrington's endeavours ensured the crowd's feel-good factor was as high as it will ever get on the first day of competition and, certainly, provided adequate compensation for the drab weather conditions.
Harrington's round featured five birdies and an eagle, at the 18th (his ninth), which also earned him a couple of eases of Jameson whiskey, something which pleased his veteran caddy, Johnny O'Reilly, no end. "He was roaring the ball into the hole When it was only half-way there," joked Harrington.
A visit to Wattie Sullivan, the former club professional at Grange, earlier in the week helped Harrington curb a problem which proved particularly frustrating at last week's Loch Lomond Invitational. "It felt like I was missing the fairways by 100 yards, they were some of the worst shots I ever played," he said. "My left arm was coming away from my body and, when I went to Wattie on Monday, he spotted it straight away. He's a wise man."
Harrington had a session with his regular confidant, Howard Bennett, the national coach to the GUI, who is based in England, four weeks ago "but things started to slip in Scotland" and, with Bennett away in Portugal, the trip down the road to Sullivan (who worked with Harrington in his junior days) proved immensely beneficial, even if the Dubliner felt his game was still not perfect".
Yesterday's round, however, looked close to perfection. Harrington hit 16 greens in regulartion and required just 28 putts in setting the early pace. Starting at the 10th, Harrington got in to his stride straight away by sinking a 25-footer for birdie, and then rolled in another from that distance at the 12th.
An indication of just how much length Harrington has added off the tee came at the 18th, even if it was playing downwind. He has added about 25 yards to his drive since turning professional, mainly because he now draws the ball, and at the par five he carried the bunkers 255 yards away. "I wouldn't have even reached them last year," he said. He followed up with a seven-iron approach to 40 feet. He sank the eagle putt.
He then rolled in a three-footer for birdie at the first and followed up with a 15-footer for another birdie at the second. Four under par in three holes.
Six consecutive pars followed, and he didn't miss a fairway until his final hole, the ninth. Undeterred, Harrington floated in a nine-iron approach out of the rough to 10 feet and sank the putt for a course record.
"Before my round, if someone told me I would shoot a 65 I would have laughed. I'd never broken 70 around here until the pro-am on Wednesday. It is a tough course. Yet, despite the wind (today), only three holes - the 16th, sixth and seventh - played in to the wind, which might explain why it wasn't such a factor," said Harrington.
Certainly, those out in the morning appeared to get the marginally better conditions (21 of those under par had morning tee-times), with Fasth, first out, benefitting most. The Swede, who is 147th in the Volvo ranking and fighting to retain his tour card, had seven birdies and just one bogey on his way to a 66.
The pressure is on me to keep my card and I had to fight hard, something I haven't really done all summer," he said.
Italy's Rocca made his move - firing a 67 - in the afternoon, but it wasn't exactly a good day at the office for either Montgomerie or Ian Woosnam, the main protagonists in the battle to win the Order of Merit.
"My putting was the story of the day, I couldn't hole anything," lamented Montgomerie after his 73. "But one over par is not disastrous by any means. I can get back into things." Woosnam, however, who had a 74, was reluctant to talk, complaining of a recurrence of his back injury, and headed off for physiotherapy.
It was also a disappointing day for Lehman. Indeed, the American admitted he was somewhat fortunate to escape with a 74: "At times, the weather was ugly out there, we had all kinds of stuff: sun, wind, rain. I am not very pleased. My body was a bit sluggish and I played extremely poorly. Still, I am also very surprised at some of the scores."
So, as the tournament heads into day two, the rather unusual sight of an Irishman at the top of an European Tour leaderboard on Irish soil will greet England's Steven Bottomley as be hits the first tee-shot of the day. But, as Monty rightly claimed, there is still three days to go.
