Philip Reidreflects on a frustrating day for Padraig Harrington who, nevertheless, is still very much in contention

The accountant that is still inside his head devours statistics. But, for Padraig Harrington, those compiled at the end of yesterday's first round didn't make for pretty reading and confirmed where things had gone wrong. Seven of 14 fairways hit and just nine of 18 greens found in regulation adequately reflected where the problem areas were for the Dubliner, who shot an opening round of 73.

"The actual score itself hasn't done much harm, but I would need to play a lot better golf for the next three days," remarked Harrington, who went the entire round without recording a birdie. As Van the Man said, there'll be days like this.

And, yet, the one bright light on the horizon for Harrington as he headed to the practice ground post-round in search of the missing ingredient in his game was that he hadn't inflicted mortal harm on his prospects.

"I know I need to play better over the next three days but I don't think I've done any damage. That was my poorest striking round in a year. I think the problem will be trying to play well for the next three days after not playing well today. There's something up in the timing and I'm more worried about that than being three over par," he said.

The stark facts of yesterday's opening round showed that Harrington - who started on the 10th - could only hit three (of seven) fairways on his front nine, although he did manage to find six greens in regulation. Unfortunately for him, the birdie chances he gave himself failed to be converted. But he was still level par playing the 18th, his ninth, where a pulled tee-shot into the drain that runs down the left of the fairway resulted in his first dropped shot of the day.

Still, Harrington resumed his par golf - relying on his scrambling - until things really started to unravel with back-to-back bogeys on the sixth and seventh, his 15th and 16th holes of the round. "Unfortunately, the two late bogeys came in amongst holes where I felt I might have made a couple of birdies either side," said Harrington.

The bogey on the par-three sixth was the result of what he deemed a "careless" tee-shot, which found a greenside bunker, while the bogey on the following hole came after what he determined to be "my best shot of the day". That shot, though, also finished in a bunker and resulted in his third dropped shot of the round. "I can't complain with the score in its entirety, but I certainly could have been a few better at the end. The holes I bogeyed I could easily have parred," said Harrington, who had a good birdie chance on the ninth, his finishing hole, where the 10-foot birdie attempt lipped out.

"I thought it was going to go in," he agreed. It didn't, though, and he was left to rue what might have been.

He was in philosophical mood afterwards. "I suppose 73 is a fair representation of how I played. I struggled early on and got a few breaks. I didn't hit my wedges close and that is how you make opportunities for birdies. I'd a few chances to be one or two better but, overall, I didn't deserve to be. I'd been hitting the ball very well coming into this week but just started questioning myself and started hitting a couple of hooks early on. That didn't help for the rest of the round. I hit a couple of poor shots because of the focus rather than poor swings, but we live to fight another day."

Indeed, Harrington claimed he was far from out of contention for the title. "The guy who wins this tournament is going to have a 73 one day. It just means I'll have to play well the next three days," he insisted.

"I'm not panicking about my score. I'll go and hit a few shots and try and work it out. It is not something you really want to be doing the week of a major. If you were playing well, you wouldn't be doing it. That's always an issue. But I'll go and hit a few shots, try to figure things out."