US TOUR:PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON kept the European flag flying high on the US PGA Tour yesterday after he took a share of the early clubhouse lead at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
Graeme McDowell followed Justin Rose and Lee Westwood in completing a hat-trick of successive European victories in the United States last weekend when he won the US Open at Pebble Beach.
With the help of a hot putter, Harrington opened with a six-under-par 64 at TPC River Highlands to join Australia’s Matthew Goggin and Charlie Wi of South Korea at the top of the leaderboard from the morning starters.
The Dubliner got off to a dream start, firing three straight birdies from the 10th hole. A 15-footer at his first was followed by one from 35-feet at the short second. A nine-iron approach to three feet at the 12th completed the run.
Harrington would card the only bogey of his opening round at the par-4 14th when he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker. He bounced back with his second two at the short 16th when he holed a 35-foot putt, while a wedge to three feet on the 18th made it five birdies on his first nine as he turned in 31.
Further gains came at the fourth, his 13th, when his seven-iron approach came to rest beside the flag, before another monster putt at the next, this time from 45 -feet, moved him to six under and gave him a third two on his card.
Harrington was delighted with his first round, particularly taking only 25 putts.
“Obviously I got off to a very quick start and was trying to push hard after that. You know, when things are going for you, you might as well run with it.
“I drove it to the fairway on my fifth hole, the 14th, and made bogey, and when I didn’t chip and putt the next, I kind of said, well, maybe save the temptation for the rest of the day. I made a nice birdie at the next and then hit it close on 18.
“I hit a few nice shots on the way home with wedges, and then I obviously hit it strong there on four and then holed it on five. So it was nice.”
Following on from McDowell’s dream week at Pebble Beach, Harrington was pleased with his work on the greens.
“There was some good putts holed, I had three twos on the card which can never do any harm. I was hoping to birdie the last par-3. It would always be nice to take those four holes in two, but I’m happy and I can’t complain about the score.”
Harrington has added the Travelers event to his schedule after his usual warm-up programme for the British Open was disrupted by the moving of the Irish PGA Championship to a date in September.
“I’m playing in the JP McManus Pro Am in a week’s time, so that was my only competitive play, and I decided that as much as I like practising, I better get out on the golf course and do some competitive play and see what my game is like.”
He is also well aware that he will need to keep up the low scores throughout a tournament that was won last year by Kenny Perry on 22-under-par
“That is certainly intimidating when you’re starting off 72 holes,” said Harrington.
“I know it hasn’t been that every year, but yeah, I was aware of that. And certainly, you know, even shooting six-under it’ll take a lot of work to get to 22-under. It just shows how well Kenny played last year.”
Reflecting on the success of European golfers on the US PGA Tour this year, Harrington believes it bodes well for their attempt to regain the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor come October.
“The Ryder Cup can be hard to win as a favourite team at times, so I’m sure there will be no doubt that the US will try and maybe make out that the Europeans are favoured and try and play that card. Certainly the Europeans used it for a long number of years.
“Yeah, the Europeans are strong. As I said, I just dropped out of the automatic qualification, so I have to work hard to get on the team, which you know, that means there’s plenty of competition, there’s plenty of guys there. And it’s not an easy team to qualify for, which is always a good sign that you’ve got a strong team.”
American quartet Bubba Watson, Kevin Sutherland, Ben Curtis and US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin were all a shot in arrears of the leaders after posting 65s with six players in the clubhouse with 66s.
Swedish pair Carl Petterson and Mathias Gronberg shot three-under 67s.
Defending champion Perry, who shot a course-record-equalling 61 in his first round 12 months ago, was in a group finishing at one under.
Leading early first round scores (par 70, US unless stated): 64 – P Harrington (Irl), M Goggin (Aus), C Wi (Kor); 65 – B Watson, C Pavin, B Curtis, K Sutherland; 66 – J Durant, B Mayfair, J Kelly, D Toms, G Chalmers (Aus), T Herron; 67 – W Simpson, C Pettersson (Swe), M Bradley, C Campbell, M Gronberg (Swe), V Taylor, S Wheatcroft.
