Philip Reid on how Padraig Harrington and co wouldn't miss Augusta, while Christy O'Connor wouldn't go there.

No Irishman ever got more invitations to play in the US Masters than Christy O'Connor Senior. Each and every year for two decades, for 20 years, the invitation dropped through his letter box in Clontarf and each and every time he wrote back to say, "Thanks, but no thanks."

"When I look back, I would have loved to have won the Masters," recalled "Himself". "But it never broke my heart that I didn't."

In those days, the 1950s and 1960s, golf was different. Travel was difficult and expensive. Purses were smaller. O'Connor didn't have the blue-chip sponsors queuing up like they do for Messrs Harrington, Clarke and McDowell, the three Irishmen competing in this, the 69th edition of the season's traditional opening major. There were no private jets to whisk Senior across the Atlantic.

As Harrington has acknowledged of Ireland's emergence as a breeding ground for players capable of contending in majors, "Even though we're a small amount of golfers, we do produce competitive players. There's been a lot of players to look up to and over the years . . . we've always had top-class players. What's happening now is that there's more access to playing a worldwide schedule.

"In the times of Christy O'Connor, it just wasn't as easy to come across to play, either for him or his contemporaries at that time. It's not that we're any better than those guys, it's just that we have got the opportunity to get out here."

Who knows if it would break Harrington's or Clarke's or McDowell's hearts if they didn't win a major? But you'd suspect it would hurt each of them, badly, if their careers finished without one.

The expectations have been rising just as they have been climbing the world rankings - Harrington to number six, Clarke currently at number 17 and McDowell to number 38 - and those expectations have been imposed by their own deeds.

Is this their time? After all, Harrington - the winner of last month's Honda Classic - and Clarke - a winner of the Accenture Matchplay and the NEC Invitational in 2000 and 2003 respectively - know how to win in the US.

Yesterday, at Augusta National, Harrington and Clarke completed their first rounds on level-par 72.

Yes, their scores could have been better. No, there were no recriminations. A look at the grey skies as they exited the recorder's tent would have reaffirmed that there was, indeed, a long weekend ahead. They hadn't played their way out of the tournament, and that was important.

"I'm happy enough at level par, a good enough first round to see where you are at," observed Harrington. "I'll take it. It's a case of staying patient."

As darkness fell on Thursday night, and the siren sounded, Harrington opted to play his approach to the 15th green from the middle of the fairway on the par five. His second shot finished up over the back, and he marked his ball. It was there he returned yesterday morning for unfinished business.

On the practice green prior to resuming his round, he had prepared for the pitch facing him. But that green in no way resembles the 15th, a vicious green that dips back-to-front towards a pond.

Harrington hit what he reckoned was "a perfect chip . . . Ronan thought I'd left it short, then we thought we'd holed it, and then it went off the green."

The ball was only prevented from rolling into the water by the cushion of grass on the fringe. Still, Harrington rolled in the 25-footer for birdie, to move to one under.

Unfortunately, he gave it straight back when, having missed the 16th green off the tee, he left his pitch 12 feet short.

The par putt grazed the hole, on the low side. He parred the final two, and had only half an hour's break for a snack and to hit some balls on the range before starting his second round.

However, a double-bogey six on the 11th - his second - sent Harrington back to tied-36th at two over when play was suspended soon afterwards.

Clarke had completed just one hole of his second round - remaining at level-par - when play was suspended by the threat of lightning.

Playing alongside Tiger Woods, Clarke remarked: "It was more like a round with Seve (Ballesteros) than Tiger. It was different, but he also hit some great shots."

Woods's woes had included putting off the 13th green on Thursday. But Clarke claimed Woods was not a distraction.

"Look, this is Augusta . . . I've enough trouble looking after myself without worrying about what is happening elsewhere."