Pádraig mounts strong defence of title

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON warmed to the defence of his Iskandar Johor Open title with a seven-under par 64 yesterday to sit just one shot off the lead after a rain-hit opening round at the co-sanctioned €1.5 million event.

Harrington chipped in for eagle at his fourth hole and offset a single bogey with six birdies to equal his best round of the season and sit in a tie for second place behind in-form Dutchman Joost Luiten.

Frenchman Gregory Bourdy and Australia’s Marcus Fraser are the two players alongside the three-times major winner in the clubhouse at the Horizon Hills course.

Luiten shot an eight-under par 63 prior to a late afternoon thunderstorm and after a one-hour wait for the weather to clear, officials suspended play for the day with 78 players yet to complete the first round, which will conclude early today.

Luiten’s score will not count as a course record nor will it be recorded as the Dutchman’s lowest-ever round in his two years full-time on the European Tour due to a “preferred lie” rule in effect following recent heavy rain in the area.

Despite missing out on putting his name in the record books, the 25-year-old Bleiswijk-born Luiten was delighted with his round just four days after he shared fifth place at the Singapore Open.

“On this course you can really attack the pins, especially as you have a lot of wedges in your hands,” he said.

“I found most of the fairways off the tee and that put me in a great position to make some birdies. I played well in Singapore, which gave me a lot of confidence to carry into this week.”

Harrington was equally as delighted as he seeks to successfully defend his title and also end a spell of more than three years without a European Tour win at an event that was sanctioned solely by the Asian Tour until this year.

“It’s always nice to put in a good showing when you come back to defend particularly with the way I started so it suggests I might put in a good performance this week,” said Harrington said.

“It’s just nice to be up there near the top of the leaderboard and nice to be playing well.”

Earlier, former world number four Henrik Stenson of Sweden completed a four-under 67 to sit in a tie for 10th place before announcing he would undergo knee surgery next month after struggling through a disappointing season.

“It hasn’t bothered me that much in swinging the club or hitting shots but it’s not great when I am walking hilly courses and also there are a lot of noises coming from my knee,” he said.