Hoylake Diary: If we were allowed into Padraig Harrington's mind at the end of a first round at Hoylake yesterday, which effectively ended his bid for the claret jug almost as soon as it started, the lyrics of Van Morrison's song Days Like This would probably have been appropriate.

When it's not always raining there'll be days like this, When there's no one complaining there'll be days like this,

When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch, Well my mama told me, there'll be days like this.

Only, for Harrington, nothing fell into place, except the wrong things. In his words, Harrington had observed prior to the championship that he came in as confident and as well prepared as he had ever done in a major. Yet, from his first tee-shot, which found a fairway bunker, and his first putt, one of three on the first green as he ran up a double bogey, he knew it wouldn't be a good day at the office.

Instead of muscling his way into contention, Harrington, one of the pre-championship favourites, signed for a 75 and admitted: "It was one of those days I couldn't do much right. I've played my way out of the tournament. That was the sort of day everything I did conspired to go wrong."

That double bogey at the first was a slap in the face.

"If it's going to happen, let it be the first hole of 72 rather than the last," he said.

The problem, however, was that he failed to take whatever chances he created and inflicted errors on himself. Two examples: on the par-five 10th, he had a five-iron approach with his second shot, but failed to make birdie; and on the 13th, a par three with an easy pin position, he pushed his tee-shot into the right-hand bunker, some 30 yards right of the flag.

"My expectations were high coming in, so it is disappointing from that extent to have such a start. I just had a poor day. I'm not blaming anything, it was just one of those days," said Harrington, who must have suspected the omens weren't good from early on when a part of his shoe broke and he had to seek a replacement pair.

So, what now? "I'll go out and try to play well and make the cut and plod along as a nondescript entity this week . . . but they're going to keep the pins very tough, so it is not as if I'm going to have a great opportunity of cutting loose."

Seve unimpressed

It was probably unwise of Ian Poulter to wear red trousers. "He looks to me like a Spanish matador," quipped Seve Ballesteros, who seemed undeterred by the hoopla surrounding the Englishman's fashion sense in producing a round of 74 that, if not comparable to the old days when he won three British Opens, at least saved him any embarrassment in front of his teenage son, Baldomero, who was caddying for him.

"I tried to make good shots, and having my son next to me was good for support. It was nice. He's a good player, knows the game very well. His distance is very much like me, so he was helping with club selection. Good players are good caddies," said the elder Ballesteros.

Lay-off pays for Owen

In his case, inactivity seems to have suited Greg Owen, who is playing just his second tournament in six weeks, after being plagued by the recurrence of a back injury.

Owen, who has Dublin caddie JP Fitzgerald on the bag, has been having twice-daily sessions with a physio since he arrived in Hoylake last Monday so that he is supple enough to play. Owen previously had surgery on a burst disc.

He explained: "Basically the disc is gone and started crushing my sciatic nerve against my spinal column. They had to trim the disc to relieve the nerve and I lost a lot of muscle down my left side.

"That's the problem I'm having now, the imbalance with the muscles."

If he can stay fit, Owen hopes to learn from his past experience in the Open when he led at Royal Lytham in 2001. He led the field after 35 holes and stayed in contention with an albatross at the 11th hole of his third round.

"I let three bogeys go on the last three holes on the Saturday, which really took me out of everything. I think I've learnt to stay patient and just trust what I do and, if the golf gods are in my favour, then I'll be good enough to win."

Furyk in the hunt

Jim Furyk's record in recent British Open championships has been dismal; he missed the cut in his last five visits.

However, the American demonstrated the benefit of arriving early for practice rounds at Hoylake by opening with a 68 that should at least end that horrible missed-cut statistic.

On his way here, Furyk and pal Tim Herron played the Palmer Course at The K Club, venue of September's Ryder Cup match, and then familiarised himself with Royal Liverpool.

"All the pre-tournament talk was that this course was perfect for me, that I should be right up there. But I was looking at the course thinking even par around here would be spectacular."