Tired? Yes. Very tired? Yes. After four straight weeks on the road, a journey that has taken him from the Carolinas to the Florida coast and then back across the Atlantic to a triumphant, historic winning week in the Irish Open at Adare before finally pitching up at tour headquarters, Padraig Harrington yesterday dug deep and somehow conjured up his best opening round - a 69 - in the BMW PGA Championship since 2001 to prove fortitude is as important as any club in a golfer's bag.
From the time that he went through his pre-round routine on the range, Harrington knew it would be a tough old day at the office. "I didn't feel very good going out there. I tried to play very conservatively. My goal today was to try and limit any damage, as the body and arms felt a little disjointed. So, I'm quite happy with three under. I can push on from here," said Harrington.
On a beautifully sunny day, with the course playing fast and firm, the English duo of Paul Broadhurst and Justin Rose claimed the first-round lead with rounds of 66, six under, which defied notions the restructured course could be a monster. Among the players to record sub-par rounds was Ernie Els - one of those on the 68 mark - who is responsible for tweaking the course.
And, still, the West Course showed a propensity to bite any player who allowed his concentration to drift. The 12th hole, for instance, demonstrated the point more than any other. Although it was ranked as the second-easiest - only the 18th played easier - it still produced scores that ranged from eagles, seven of them, to a quadruple-bogey nine, recorded by Paul Casey.
Harrington was the player entrusted with recording Casey's misadventures and, so, etching that nine on to his Ryder Cup colleague's scorecard gave him a reminder of the potential trouble that lurked on any wayward shots. As it was, Harrington kept his focus sufficiently to stay close enough to the leaders to make the next few days an extremely interesting prospect.
"I like to be 100 per cent ready to play, and I wasn't. But, you know, there's obviously a certain amount of confidence from last week and that's probably why I shot 69 rather than 73 or 74. The key is that it is a tournament of 72 holes and there is another 54 to go and I was working on the principle of not doing any damage. The longer I stay in the tournament, the more chance I have (of winning).
"To be honest, this 69 is ahead of schedule. The danger was if I went over par, I was going in the wrong direction.
"Adrenalin plays a big part and keeping myself in the tournament will help even better. Hopefully I get stronger as the week goes on," he remarked.
Harrington finished strongly. Having turned in level par, he posted back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th and got a reminder of the need for caution when suffering a three-putt bogey from eight feet on the 14th. But he scrambled well coming in, getting up and down from a vicious position over the back of the green on the 16th to save par, and then getting up and down for birdies on the 17th and 18th.
While the tournament is his main focus, the consequences should he succeed haven't entirely gone unnoticed to the Dubliner. There is a €1-million bonus on offer to him should he follow up his Irish Open win with victory here.
"Oh, I'm aware of it. Who wouldn't be? I'm very aware of the whole situation and what the odds are on me going into this week."
As it was, Harrington - so tired he decided not to go near the range after his round and, instead, headed straight to his physio for a rub-down to be followed by dinner and early to bed - led the Irish challenge. In fact, he was the only one of eight Irishmen in the field to dip below par, although Darren Clarke and Royal County Down's Simon Thornton, last year's winner of the Irish PGA Order of Merit, posted level-par 72s.
Thornton, who double-bogeyed the ninth, didn't drop a shot thereafter and birdied the final two holes in an impressive round.
For Paul McGinley, however, there was more frustration after a round of 74 that included a run of double bogey-bogey-bogey from the 13th. "I don't see light at the end of the tunnel at the moment, but I am in this game long enough to know that it will turn around. It is all a battle. I'm not hitting quality shots at all, not playing the little half-shots that are my bread and butter. I'll keep at it," said McGinley.
(Irish or Brit unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72):66 - J Rose, P Broadhurst; 67 - F Molinari (Ita), S Kapur (Ind), M Fraser (Aus), S Khan; 68 - M Ilonen (Fin), Y-eun Yang (Kor), E Els (Rsa), A Canizares (Spa), R Sterne (Rsa), J Randhawa (Ind) 69 - L Slattery, M Millar (Aus), N Dougherty, L Oosthuizen (Rsa), F Andersson Hed (Swe), P Harrington; 70 - M Erlandsson (Swe), R Fisher, J Kingston (Rsa), C Montgomerie, O Wilson, R Echenique (Arg), A Cabrera (Arg), C Rodiles (Spa), J-Maria Olazabal (Spa), M Warren, M Angel Jimenez (Spa), A Romero (Arg), W-chong Liang (Chn), H Stenson (Swe), T Levet (Fra); 71 - B Taylor, M Kaymer (Ger), G Storm, J-Francois Remesy (Fra), A Forsyth, C Nirat (Tha), M Tunnicliff, R Bland, J Parron (Spa), C Nilsson (Swe), P Price, S Walker, J Hepworth, L Donald, I Garrido (Spa), L Westwood, M Foster, P O'Malley (Aus); 72 - G Orr, C Hanell (Swe), R Gonzalez (Arg), P Hedblom (Swe), R Karlsson (Swe), S Dodd, N Fasth (Swe), S Thornton, G Fdez-Castano (Spa), C Cevaer (Fra), J Backstrom (Swe), M Eliasson (Swe), D Clarke, R Jacquelin (Fra), A Canete (Arg) E Canonica (Ita), C Monasterio (Arg); 73 - R Jan Derksen (Ned), S Jeppesen (Swe), D Park, T Jaidee (Tha), P Hanson (Swe), V Singh (Fij), R Rock, M Brier (Aut), T Price (Aus), S Lyle, I Garbutt, B Dredge, M Siem (Ger), J Haeggman (Swe), M Lafeber (Ned), D Lynn, P Casey, P Archer, I Poulter, R Green (Aus); 74 - G Houston, D Griffiths, A Hansen (Den), G McDowell, P Gustafsson (Swe), S Wakefield, J-Filipe Lima (Por), G Murphy, A Noren (Swe), A Oldcorn, R Finch, P Lawrie, T Bjorn (Den), G Brand Jnr, P McGinley; 75 - A Wall, S Webster, J Axgren (Swe), K Ferrie, S Dyson, J Manuel Lara (Spa); 76 - C Lee, D McGrane, R Goosen (Rsa), J Sandelin (Swe), B Barham, S Kjeldsen (Den), A Coltart, J Bickerton, P Lawrie, J Edfors (Swe), S Gallacher, P Wesselingh, G Bourdy (Fra), G Havret (Fra); 77 - J Milkha Singh (Ind), A Haig (Rsa), K Sullivan, J Van de Velde (Fra), T Wiratchant (Tha), S Drummond, M Mamat (Sin), D Vancsik (Arg), B Rumford (Aus), A Tadini (Ita), S Edwards (USA), T Whitehouse, B Lane; 78 - D Carter, M Campbell (Nzl), C Schwartzel (Rsa), S O'Hara; 79 - A Marshall, D Fichardt (Rsa); 80 - J Bevitt, S Hansen (Den), G Emerson; 81 - M Pilkington, J-Francois Lucquin (Fra); 83 - R O'Hanlon; 84 - G Hutcheon.