Pádraig Harrington shot a flawless 66 in the first round of the WGC-CA Championship at Doral to confirm a timely return to form and leave himself as the leading European, one shot off the lead in Florida. The Dubliner has struggled for form of late and was eager to begin brightly this weekend to kickstart his preparation for Augusta.

Back-to-back birdies on the opening two holes were the perfect start and another followed on the fifth.

After the turn the three-time major winner picked up another three shots on the 10th, 14th and 15th before expertly playing the last to finish one behind India’s Jeev Milkha-Singh, South African Retief Goosen, Phil Mickelson and Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng.

Teenager Rory McIlroy was not far behind on four under but could have been closer had he not had a wobble on the back nine.

The Holywood golfer opened with an eagle and a pair of birdies sandwiched a bogey on the sixth.

He moved to five under with birdies on the 10th and 12th but two consecutive bogeys followed and the youngster did well to recover a shot on the 15th before a three-par finish.

“Yeah I think I could have gone lower, I got off to a great start and played the front nine really well,” he told Sky Sports afterwards. “It’s pretty tricky out there and obviously the scores are pretty good. I’m going to have to shoot something pretty low.

“I feel if I can shoot one or two lower tomorrow I’ll be in with a chance.”

Tiger Woods struggled to keep up with the pace and carded a 71 after three bogeys.

On a low-scoring day, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell will be disappointed after a 74 and 73, respectively.