Paul McGinley was acutely aware of his priceless contribution to Ireland's elevated position after the opening round of the 44th World Cup at Gulf Harbour. But the vagaries of a fiercely demanding format prompted him to remark: "If I don't play well from here on, I hope I can show the character that Padraig did today."

Those words reflected the closeness of a partnership which achieved glorious victory 12 months ago. Indeed there were remarkable resonances of Kiawah Island in this opening effort in defence of the title.

At the end of the first day last year, Ireland were in seventh position, seven strokes behind the leaders after McGinley's 66 had been complemented by a 71 from Harrington. This time it was a 67 backed by a level-par 72. At Kiawah, McGinley was tied fourth in the individual table at this stage, which was precisely his position at the end of yesterday's play.

So, if tournament success could be based purely on scoring patterns, Ireland would be set fair for another memorable triumph. Which, of course, is a fanciful notion. A more realistic view is that the strength of a formidable combination has clearly endured.

Through grim tenacity and a brilliant short-game, Harrington ensured that his partner's scoring exploits were not going to be completely wasted. So it was that he scrambled remarkably with up-and-down pars at the ninth and 10th, before contributing a birdie with a wedge to less than four feet at the 12th.

Distractions from a relatively sparse gallery led to a thinned bunker recovery and a bogey at the 14th. But, against the odds, he covered the remaining holes in level par. Driving the ball in all directions except the correct one, he miraculously traversed the chasm at the treacherous, dog-leg 16th before getting up and down from a greenside trap for an amazing par.

But the ultimate wizardry came at the long 17th, where an ill-judged three-wood second shot finished in the rising sand of a large fairway trap. At a distance of 166 yards to the elevated green, the challenge was to figure out a way of reaching the target without catching the lip of the bunker.

Harrington felt that by opening the face of a four-iron, he could achieve the necessary elevation and distance. And with the shot clearly pictured in his mind, he executed it to perfection for what later became a routine, two-putt par.

Though visibly angry at his errors on the 14th and 16th, he had retained sufficient composure to keep the team in contention. "It was a tremendous effort by Paul and only for the way I chipped and putted, I would have been in the high numbers," he admitted. "My timing was off."

In a way, it seems odd to be highlighting Harrington's survival instincts, given the superior quality of McGinley's play. But that's the way of the World Cup, as Italy's Costantino Rocca would have readily acknowledged when his 65 had to be set against a 74 from his partner, Massimo Florioli.

Ireland actually got to six under par when McGinley holed a wonderful, 25-foot birdie putt, breaking downhill left to right at the short 13th. But the acceptability of their final score had to be set against a position of one over par after Harrington had bogeyed the fourth.

Either way, McGinley clearly enjoys this format and has total confidence in Harrington as a partner. "He never gets down on himself, no matter how badly he's playing," he said. "Nobody hangs on better than he does."

For his part, McGinley played almost flawlessly from tee to green, hitting every fairway and missing only one green in regulation. That was at the 10th, where he tried to be a little bit too clever with a sand-wedge to a very difficult pin position, with the result that he didn't even reach the putting surface.

His round contained six birdies and a lone bogey at the short 15th, which he three-putted. And three of the birdies were successive from the long 11th, where he pitched to 12 feet. The last of them came at the 18th where he sought Harrington's opinion before deciding that the line of a 10-foot birdie putt was just inside the left lip. Which it was.

"It's going to be a long weekend and there's no point in predicting scores at this stage," said the birdie-man.