Padraig Harrington faced up to the challenges of Carnoustie's treacherous 18th yesterday and emerged unscathed as he made a solid start to the defence of his Alfred Dunhill Links championship title.

The 36-year-old Dubliner, aiming for a third triumph in the pro-am event, posted a battling two-under-par 70 over the venerable Angus links in his first appearance on European soil since he won the British Open Championship there back in July.

Harrington, who heads into the second round five shots behind pacesetter Steve Webster of England, also playing at Carnoustie, had admitted that a series of calamities on the 18th had left him approaching the hole with considerable trepidation.

Harrington almost threw away the Open title when, a shot ahead of Sergio Garcia coming down the last, he plunged his ball into the Barry Burn twice on his way to a double-bogey and ended up in a play-off from which he finally emerged victorious.

Harrington's torrid experiences of the 18th also stretch back to his days in the unpaid ranks when he lashed a ball out of bounds during the semi-finals of the Amateur championship in 1992 and lost by a hole to eventual champion Stephen Dundas.

After starting his round yesterday at the 10th tee, the famous closing hole was going to be the Irishman's ninth of the day.

But having tamed the menacing, 485-yard par-four with a three-wood, a nine-iron and 15-foot birdie putt, Harrington joked: "In years to come I'm sure I won't remember the birdie I made on 18 this week.

"It was a lot different anyway, to the Open. For a start it was my ninth hole. I played a three-wood and nine-iron and in the Open I played a driver and seven-iron.

"I spent a lot of the round reliving the shots from the Open. The fact that I'm the Open champion probably put a little bit of extra expectation on me, so I'm pretty pleased with myself.

"The funniest thing about it was that I could see the swelling of the media on the 17th green.

"When I got under par I had the feeling it would be a respectable day and on the whole I was pleased."

Webster marked his return to competitive action by carving out an impressive seven-under-par 65 over to move into a one-shot lead over Scotsman Paul Lawrie, Denmark's Soren Hansen, Hennie Otto of South Africa and Australia's Scott Strange.

Webster, the former Italian Open champion, set the tone for a productive day by holing a 20-foot putt for birdie on the first hole, and followed that up by making gains at both the second and third.

The Englishman, who won the British Open silver medal as the top amateur in 1995 at St Andrews, picked up a further birdie at the sixth.

He dropped a shot at 11, before reeling off four birdies in his closing seven holes to hoist himself to the front.

Ernie Els, the former Open champion, and English Ryder Cup player Luke Donald opened their challenges with 67s.

Liverpool's Nick Dougherty joined the posse of players on five-under with a 67 at Kingbarns while Justin Rose was left cursing a poor tee-shot on his 12th hole which cost him a stroke and halted the momentum that had been building over the outward half.

The 27-year-old, second on the tour's Order of Merit, posted a four-under 68, but he had been five-under after 10 holes during a round which included an eagle-three at the 14th - his fifth.

Rose admitted: "I made a poor decision on the 12th, chose the wrong club and put it in the bunker.

"That really halted the run and it was annoying as I played that hole conservatively during the Open. I changed my strategy today and maybe I just got impatient and tried to force it."

Colin Montgomerie, the Dunhill winner in 2005, could only muster a two-over 74 at Carnoustie.