Pádraig gets what he was looking for

GOLF IRISH PGA CHAMPIONSHIP:THE FIRST round of the Ladbrokes.com-sponsored Irish PGA Championship resembled a golfing version of the hokey cokey where there were plenty of ins and outs, with play suspended on three occasions, while there was a fair bit of shaking it about going on in the environs of the clubhouse for those hapless morning starters, drenched by torrential rain.

It wasn't the morning-long downpour, though, that necessitated those stoppages but the fog that hovered over the European Club for much of the early afternoon and evening. Play was eventually abandoned for the day at 7.20pm with roughly half of the 120-strong field still to complete the first round.

Given the rainfall of the last three weeks and yesterday's deluge the European Club stood up remarkably well - there were only a few greens that required a little squeegee work in the worst of the weather - but once the wind dropped to a light breeze at lunch-time, it meant the fog, particularly on a couple of holes along the seashore on the back nine, refused to move, periodically reducing visibility to 80 yards.

It guaranteed a frustrating day for the competitors, a day when patience and concentration were as important as shot-making.

The defending champion and British Open champion, Pádraig Harrington, acquitted himself admirably for the most part, shooting a four-over-par 75.

He returned the best card of the day along with the 55-year-old European Seniors Tour player Eamonn Darcy.

One shot further adrift was last year's runner-up, Headfort's Brendan McGovern, Ballina's Edward Tracey and John Kelly (St Margaret's). All five of the aforementioned endured the worst of the weather in rounds that lasted, including the delays, close to eight and a quarter hours.

Harrington spoke beforehand about hoping for testing conditions and smiled when reminded of the fact outside the scorer's hut.

"I got what I asked for . . . sorry about that. It certainly was a tough day, a battle. You knew if you missed the fairways you were going to get in trouble. There wasn't too much difficulty around the greens but (you had) to control your spin. All my dropped shots came off missing fairways. It was a tough day for that."

He conceded he spent the first 13 holes preoccupied about where the ball was going rather than committing to striking the golf ball and trusting his technique. Reacquainting himself with the demands of links golf will prove invaluable when it comes to defending his British Open title at Royal Birkdale next week.

"It is different. The wind affects the ball. It (the wind) wasn't that strong but a 10- or 15-mile-an-hour wind on a links golf course affects the ball more than a 10- or 15-mile-an-hour wind on a parkland course.

"It doesn't make sense but that's what happens. The ball moves and you have to get used to that again. You lose exponentially in distance with your clubbing and it just takes a little bit of time to get used to that again.

"It is mostly about getting yourself comfortable with where you are and picking your targets. On a links golf course there are no trees to aim at; it's harder to pick up targets, harder to define the landing areas. The way you shape the ball in the wind can make a difference of 40 yards to your tee shots.

"It does take a bit of getting used to, definitely."

The Dubliner managed a couple of birdies at the fifth and 10th, which helped offset bogeys on the first, third, eighth and 12th.

He also suffered a double bogey on the 15th when his pitching-wedge second shot from a bunker pitched on the green and disappeared into the New Zealand Flax bushes that guard the putting surface from the sea spray.

He returned to the bunker before two-putting for a six.

Darcy, a one-time course record holder (69), pointed out his round like that of everyone else became something of an endurance test, where keeping equipment dry was a priority. "It was just a horrible day to play golf and the course is so tough. It took so long to play and it was all stop-start, which doesn't help. I actually played all right but I'd two three-putts at the end (and) was a bit disappointed."

McGovern, beaten in a play-off by Harrington last year, found himself scuppered by a triple-bogey seven at the closing hole, the by-product of a lost ball from his tee shot. He explained: "I lost a ball off the tee and wasn't much better with the next one. So I played safe, hit a lovely shot in, pitched short of the hole, spun back to 15 feet and I missed.

"On a day like today I was flying to the last because anything, believe you me, anything under 80 is a good score for what we played in. It's actually quite nice the last four holes. I was quite happy that whatever happened this afternoon, I was going to be happy with my score. I was playing well."

Play resumes this morning at 7am and there is likely to be a three-and-a-half-hour delay before some competitors can begin their second rounds, the probability being the clubhouse leaders won't tee it up for a second time until this evening: the logjam is unlikely to be cleared fully until tomorrow.

The good news it that at least the weather forecast for today appears more conducive to golf.