Golf - PGA Championship update:Pádraig Harrington carded an ugly triple-bogey eight at the 17th hole and recent PGA Tour winner Rory McIlroy struggled to get to grips as Wentworth's new-look West Course bared its teeth on the opening day of the €4.5million PGA Championship, the European Tour's flagship event.
After radical changes – to the tune of €8 million - were made to the iconic parkland course by South African Ernie Els, not all the comments coming back from the competing professionals were positive with many protesting at the difficulty and unfairness of the new layout.
Harrington had moved into the early lead and was three under standing on the 17th tee and staring at a hole that has never suited his eye. In fact he has never been a fan of the greens at Wentworth and stayed away from the tournament in 2008 and 2009.
The Dubliner’s undoing at the dogleg left par five 17th began when he drove it right into the bushes. His second shot was a chip into a bush and after taking a penalty drop he chipped again. Short of the par five green in five strokes, Harrington needed three more to get down.
"It's a tough tee shot for me, I didn't fancy going back there again," said Harrington, who had previously picked up three birdies on the front nine but eventually signed for a level par 71.
Just hours after his round, the three-time major winner gave a putting masterclass to some awestruck fans with learning difficulties.
"With a bit of practice I could go far," quipped the father-of-two.
Aside from completely new greens, new bunkers were also added to stop long hitters dominating the course and world number nine McIlroy said he found the sand inconsistent.
"Some bunkers have a lot of sand and some bunkers don't have any," said McIlroy after a disappointing three-over 74.
"It's hard to judge. I left a couple of bunker shots in the bunkers today which isn't like me. I'm usually pretty good out of them."
McIlroy, who won the Quail Hollow Championship in fine style several weeks ago, made a poor start with three bogeys in his first five holes. Matters got worse when he made a double bogey at the 10th to drop to five over.
From there the 21-year-old rallied with birdies at 16 and 17 before parring the by now infamous par five 18th. What Harrington would have given for a matching finish.
Gareth Maybin finished the day as leading Irishman after his five birdie haul and just two dropped shots ensured he signed for a three under 69. Two of those birdies came on the final two holes.
Damien McGrane was next on two under, one better than Graeme McDowell and Peter Lawrie, while Harrington was joined on level par Paul McGinley.
Irish Open champion Shane Lowry shot an opening 72, while Darren Clarke and Michael Hoey could only muster 75s. David Higgins, who qualified from the Irish PGA order of merit, struggling badly to sign for an 80.
Els, who owns a property on the Wentworth estate, started his campaign with a 69. McIlroy's 2007 Walker Cup team mate Danny Willett leads the way after a six under 65, one ahead of Australian Richard Green.
World number three Lee Westwood attacked the recent changes after carding a one under 70.
"If you're going to spend a lot of money on changes it would be nice to get them right first time round," he said before making reference to the perils of the new 18th.
"Olly's hit a career shot there and it's not even stayed on the green," said last year's European number one in reference to his playing partner, Oliver Fisher’s approach to the 18th. "You can tell by how excited the crowd got with that one, how hard that second shot is.”
"The hole cries out for a green that sits in the opposite direction. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I was a big fan of the (old) finish. I think people like that excitement of seeing birdies and I think that's been taken away."
Westwood cited Augusta National, home of the Masters, as an example of change for the better.
"They've softened Augusta over the past few years and the atmosphere has improved," he added.
"Today I pitched it eight feet right of the hole on 16 and it went 30 feet away. People say, `Well, that happens at Augusta,' but this isn't Augusta.
"It's a fine line between entertaining everybody and making it harder."
Another Englishman in Ian Poulter cut a dejected figure as he slumped to a seven over 78. The world number six looked particularly unhappy at the 15th as he walked ahead of his group staring at the turf.
"My stats are my stats. Stats don't lie, do they?" said the stony-faced Englishman, referring to his six missed cuts in eight PGA Championship outings before taking a break from the tournament in 2008 and 2009.
"If you don't play well on this golf course it's going to punish you."
Several players scored in the 80s, Swede Mikael Lundberg suffering the most as he ballooned to an 85 after an 11 over 46 on the front nine.