A bad day with both driver and the putter left Padraig Harrington six shots off the pace at the US Masters last night, leaving the Dublin in no doubt that his game will have to improve if he is to make an impact at Augusta.

The Open champion and sole Irish challenger carded a birdie on the second but took two steps back with a double bogey on the sixth. He was then back to level par with a birdie four on the 13th before bogeying two of the last three holes to sign for a two-over-par 74, six behind Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman.

"I struggled with the putter and the driver, but the putting hurt me more than anything else," he said last night. "I'll have to be better over the next three days — missing a short one on the last green is not a nice way to finish and leaves a sour taste."

Harrington, at least, finished before night fell which is more than can be said for Lee Westwood, whose decision to play on in near darkness as he battled for the lead has been questioned by Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo.

Play went on until nearly 8.15pm because of an earlier fog delay and Westwood, in the last group of the day, three-putted the 17th to slip a stroke behind first round leaders Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman.

Westwood closed his three-under-par round with a par four, but three-time champion Faldo said in his American television commentary: "At a major is it  really worth it? I would have stopped.

"You've got to really question this decision to rush up the 18th."

But Westwood's decision meant he will tee-off at 10.56am instead of returning to finish his first round at 8am.

"I just wanted to get in and get it over with — I didn't want to go back out tomorrow morning," said Westwood. "Sometimes it's easy to have a three-foot downhill putt in the dark than first thing. I've had later finishes on the clock, but not as dark as this.

"We weren't moving faster, we had to wait on 17 and 18. We didn't want to play the 18th at 8am when it's cooler."