British Open: They love their links golf but, to be honest, there are days when it can drive even the world's best golfers demented. As Padraig Harrington remarked after battling through the first round, "If you had to play for your living on a course like this all the time, it would send a lot of people to the nuthouse." Philip Reid reports from Sandwich.

Yet, Harrington was surprisingly upbeat and far from being driven mad. On a day when Gary Murphy, the last of the four Irish to earn his exemption into the 132nd Open field, shot a 73 to head the challenge of the quartet, it was a frustrating time all round for the three Ryder Cup heroes of last September: Harrington and Darren Clarke each shot 75s, while Paul McGinley had a bogey,double-bogey finish for a 77.

Despite being disappointed with his score, which he felt could have been four shots better, Harrington confessed to having had more "fun" than he's had all year.

"I've been quite miserable on the course this season because I've been trying too hard," said Harrington, who felt a couple of sessions with Bob Rotella, his sports psychologist, had helped in that regard. "I should play more links golf when I am off, it's a different experience. What we (normally) play isn't golf, this is the real thing out here."

Harrington bogeyed the first hole to be put on the back foot straight away and claimed: "I'm not 100 per cent happy with my game. I just went out to do the best I could with what I've got. You won't find what is missing on the practice ground in a wind like this, so you just have to do the best you can. But if some putts had dropped, I'd be in there at level.That's the nature of the game."

Trailing the leader Hennie Otto by seven shots, Harrington was asked if he was too far back to think of winning: "If I thought I was in the form of my life, I would think I could come back from this. The fact is I feel I am playing average . . . and three average days wouldn't help me come back. If I was playing exceptionally, and looking at the scores in these conditions, I'd say you could come back. But you need a lot of breaks to go for you when you're playing average," he insisted.

Although he also handed in a 75, Clarke was more downbeat than Harrington.

"I'm completely disgusted with how I played," said Clarke, who only hit six greens in regulation and whose iron play particularly let him down. "I played terrible, hardly hit a proper shot, and got the score I deserved."

Of them all, Murphy had most reason for satisfaction, although the fact he finished over-par still rankled with him. "I think Loch Lomond last week (where he was fourth) is a turning point in my career," said the Kilkenny man, who seems to have grown in self-confidence in the space of a week.

Yesterday, as he made his way to the first tee, he got the sort of news he didn't want to hear. "Tiger lost his ball on the first," said an over-friendly marshall. It showed to Murphy just how tough the conditions were, but he played solidly throughout and was disappointed to drop a shot on the last.

"I'd been driving the ball really well all day, but just blocked my drive into the hay on the right," he said. Still, he has the chance to make some hay of his own in the second round as he is in the first three-ball off, traditionally a good tee-time. "I just hope I can get the sleep out of my eyes," he joked.