In a tournament ripe with Ryder Cup points due to the lucrative €3,472,752 prize purse, Sweden's Niclas Fasth and Bradley Dredge from Wales find themselves in the plum seats at the top of the leaderboard after the opening day's play at the Smurfit Kappa European Open at the K Club.
The leading pair carded impressive seven-under par 65s around the Smurfit Course, where this year's tournament has been switched to rather than the original Palmer Course where the Ryder Cup will be staged in September.
There was a real buzz around the course today and that was thanks largely to initiative undertaken by the Ulster Bank. They afforded free public admission for the opening day's play at the Kildare venue and attendance figures of 29,032 surpassed the previous one-day record of 28,532, set during the final round in 2002. Last year's first round attendance was a meagre 7,310 in comparison. And the buoyant crowds weren't left disappointed as birdies and eagles were aplenty.
The leading pair are closely followed by the in-form Paul Casey and Argentina's Angel Cabrera who are tied third on six-under. The Irish trio of Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke and Damien McGrane are also well-placed just four shots off the lead, while a "tired" Padraig Harrington is a shot further back.
When Clarke completed his round he was presented with an engraved silver vase and £1000 cheque for the European Tour's Shot of the Month. He immediately announced that the cheque would be donated to Cancer Research charity and the trophy would go on auction via the official European Tour website and his own personal website "in the hope of raising more money for the charity". A fine gesture and particularly apt given the ongoing battle his wife Heather is having with cancer.
On the course, the highlight of Fasth's round came with an eagle three at the seventh and although a dropped shot came at the fifth, he also carded six further birdies. Dredge, on the other hand, had no dropped shots and his round improved considerably with a run of four birdies from the 12th.
"I've worked very hard at my game and each week I just try to figure how to play that particular course well," explained Casey. "I believe the reason I have been in contention so much lately is down to hard work more than anything else."
In Harrington's case, a combination of competing both sides of the Atlantic (where he finished runner-up in the Booz Allen Classic and the French Open in the space of one week) was taking it's toll.
"I was struggling with my concentration and that simply down to tiredness," said Harrington. "I made a lot of mistakes, especially around the greens. I didn't see one line all day, Ronan (his caddy) had a busy day reading the lines. That's a tell-tale sign of tiredness."
"I'm happy with 70 because it could easily have been 75 and then I'm out of the tournament. At least now if I come out strong tomorrow then no damage has been done."
As for the initiative by the Ulster Bank the Dubliner was full of praise: "I think it was a great idea what Ulster Bank did and it's great for the tournament."
Harrington was one of only four Irishmen from the 14 who started out who managed to break par. Gary Murphy, Michael Hoey and Stephen Browne all found themselves on the wrong side of par at one over, the same score as defending champion Kenneth Ferrie, who was playing alongside Clarke. Philip Walton, playing on a sponsor's invite, Peter Lawrie, David Higgins and David Mortimer were a shot further back on two over while an out-of-form Paul McGinley could signed for a three-over par 75.
There were many glamour groups to choose from today and the one containing Colin Montgomerie (69), US Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman (71) and Michael Campbell (72) was no exception. Lehman earned the bragging rights over his European counterpart as Ian Woosnam only managed a 75.
Although this is one of the most prestigious events on the European circuit in its own right, there was a lingering feeling all day long that the game's leading lights - subconsciously or not - were working out how to ensure they make it to proceedings just the other side of the Liffey come September.
