Pádraig Harrington shot an inspired debut round at the Tour Players’ Championship in Sawgrass today, despite accepting it could have been better.
"I am pleased with my two-under par 70 but I certainly had a chance to be one or two better," reflected Harrington.
The Dubliner made a great start to his round with birdies at the opening two holes. He knocked his approach into five feet on the opening green and holed before adding another birdie at the 532-yard par five second.
Having briefly got to three-under with a third birdie at the 10th, Harrington dropped back again after three putting for his first bogey at the 12th.
The 29-year-old went on to hit his best shot of the day at the 507-yard 16th. After a good drive he struck an even better five iron to within five feet but missed the putt for eagle.
After safely negotiating the notorious island 17th in regulation three, the only other blemish was a bogey at the final hole, were Harrington later admitted putting his ball in such a position that he could not attack the hole.
"I think 70 is about right for the day because you really have to be aggressive around here which I wasn’t today," said Harrington.
"My limited knowledge of the course cost me shots and unless I learn very quickly it will be difficult to win here with such a quality field."
However, he went to say: "Darren [Clarke] helped me a lot with pin positions and the layout earlier in the week."
Harrington’s two-under round leaves him two shots behind the early clubhouse leaders Billy Mayfair from America and Australia’s Robert Allenby.
Clarke is the only other Irish player in the field at Sawgrass and he just teed off at 6:15 Irish time.
Tiger Woods is another late starter on the first day and he too has just begun his round.
Quotes from Sky Sports