PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON broke par at TPC Sawgrass for the first time since 2007 when he opened with a three under par 69 in The Players Championship yesterday to trail clubhouse leader Ian Poulter by four strokes.
The 40-year-old Dubliner had every right to feel pleased with himself in an event where he has followed back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2002 and 2003 with four missed cuts in the last six years.
He was certainly happier than playing partner Angel Cabrera, who hit three balls in the water en route to a nine at the 17th and promptly withdrew for “personal reasons” after signing for a 78.
But he appeared to be only marginally happier than Tiger Woods, who failed to break 70 in the opening round at Sawgrass for the 15th time in a row when he posted an error-strewn, two over par 74 to leave himself in danger of missing back-to-back cuts on the US Tour for the first time in his career.
“I’m happy with the 69,” said Harrington, who still looked less than thrilled by his early morning effort in idyllic conditions.
“After three weeks off I was just a little bit tentative. My routines just weren’t good, especially on the greens. Certainly that’s where I’ll look for improvement over the next three days.”
By his own admission, Harrington has been struggling with his putting for the best part of 15 months and while he had just 29 putts yesterday, he missed more than his share of good birdie chances, including three inside seven feet.
He holed one from seven feet on the par-five second before picking up another shot at the par-three third following a 183-yard approach to just four feet. But after looking likely to challenge for the early lead, he missed a six-foot birdie chance at the fourth and then bogeyed the sixth and the par-three eighth to fall back to even par.
Ever the fighter, Harrington refused to be bowed and birdied the par-five ninth thanks to an 80-yard wedge to seven feet.
A birdie miss inside five feet at the 11th didn’t appear to bother him, however, and having missed several chances, he birdied the par-three 13th from 15 feet and the par-five 16th from five to get to three under par.
From there it was a question of avoiding major errors and after a nervy-looking two-putt from just 15 feet at the island green 17th, he had to hole a four-and-a-half foot return putt at the last to avoid finishing with a three-putt bogey.
Woods, on the other hand, headed straight for the range as he carded a 74 featuring five bogeys and just three birdies.
“It was frustrating in the sense that my good shots ended up in bad spots, and obviously my bad shots ended up in worse spots,” said Woods, who hit just 50 per cent of his fairways and greens.
“It wasn’t certainly the most positive start. Any kind of momentum that I would build, I would shoot myself in the foot on the very next hole. It was just one of those days.”
Finally relieved of the “stress” of watching builders take two years and nine months to complete his palatial new home in Orlando, Poulter had nine single putts in a row in an eight-birdie 65 that gave him an early, one-stroke lead over American journeyman Blake Adams.
World number one Rory McIlroy and fellow Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell were amongst the afternoon starters battling the highly technical Sawgrass lay-out.
Bidding to make the cut at The Players for the first time – he skipped it last year after missing the weekend in 2009 and 2010 – McIlroy had three birdies and a bogey to be two under par with six to play while McDowell was one under with five to play following a birdie from five feet at the 384-yard fourth, his 13th.
Australian Adam Scott, the 2004 champion, was six under with six to play.
Paul Casey covered the front nine in 42 – just like Woods did last year before withdrawing with a leg injury – and one more hole was enough for him.
Casey dislocated his shoulder snowboarding on Christmas Eve and it was thought to be a recurrence of that injury that forced his early exit yesterday.
