Harrington just four off Mickelson's lead

Free from the technical swing thoughts that clouded his mind earlier this year, Ireland's Padraig Harrington eased into contention…

Free from the technical swing thoughts that clouded his mind earlier this year, Ireland's Padraig Harrington eased into contention at the BellSouth Classic in Georgia.

The 34-year-old from Dublin holed a 50-foot eagle putt at the par-five 18th before completing a four-under-par 68 in the opening round at the TPC at Sugarloaf.

"It was a very nice day for golf, not far off perfect conditions," the 34-year-old told reporters after finishing five strokes behind leader and defending champion Phil Mickelson.

"I had a few breaks here and there and 18 was a two-shot swing. I made eagle but likely you could make six at that hole."

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A winner of two PGA Tour titles last year, Harrington believes he has resolved the swing problems he experienced in last month's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at La Costa in California.

"I'm getting a little more comfortable with what I'm doing," he said.

"More competition is always needed when you have things going on in your head. You need to play a little bit more to settle down.

"I spent nine weeks off during the winter and I really had gotten into a lot of technical stuff, too much. You need a balance between your technique and your competitiveness."

Despite reaching the quarter-finals at La Costa in the opening World Golf Championships event of the year, Harrington said at the time he had been "definitely between two golf swings".

Although next week's US Masters is at the back of his mind, the Irishman has set his sights on a strong performance at the BellSouth.

"I would never show up at a tournament and not look for a result," said Harrington, who missed the cut in last week's Players Championship at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida.

"Come Sunday night. I'll be thinking about the performance to get read for next week. The best preparation for Augusta National is to play very well here.

"There's no point thinking about the Masters now, especially when I've made a pretty decent start here."

Harrington conceded he was fortunate to eagle the 18th after a series of missed putts from around 15 feet over his first seven holes.

"It was a nice break," he said, having set up the eagle with a hybrid three-iron second shot from 260 yards.

"I wasn't even thinking that putt might drop until it caught the left side of the hole and went down. That was very nice."

Harrington added he had also been a little lucky with his second shot there.

"I hit it a bit low off the down slope," he said. "Thankfully it wasn't a proper three-iron or it would have been in the water.

"It pitched in the bank short of the green and skipped up on to the green 50 feet away."