Padraig Harrington is a gifted, hard-working golfer whose fidelity to the work ethic must warm the cockles of the heart of his coach, Bob Torrance, but his current fourth place in the European Order of Merit, his berth in the postponed Ryder Cup and his consistent prominence on leaderboards still leave the Dubliner feeling he has sold himself short recently.

Harrington hasn't won since his victory over this Club de Campo course last year. And the seven runner-up finishes he has accumulated since then - 16 career near-misses in all - have convinced him he makes a poor front-runner.

The Irishman has yet another chance to prove himself wrong after clocking up a first-round 63 in the Madrid Open yesterday; only the preferred lies being played prevented him from tieing the course record.

"Obviously my focus was pretty good elsewhere, but I made a couple of errors through poor concentration again," he said.

"I'm putting it down to tiredness this time - I'm shattered. This is my fourth week in a row and I would definitely have missed this one but for the fact I'm defending.

"But I've got to be delighted with that round. I'd have been happy with a solid start, but this is clearly better than that."

Five of his eight birdies came from within eight feet, and he made a 25-footer for an eagle at the seventh, the fruit of consistently aggressive golf: "I hardly laid up at all," Harrington said.

Two dropped shots when he missed greens with simple approach shots were concentration lapses he put down to general fatigue, and that he had exchanged his usual visor for a cap.

"On a golf course I see everything, so I get easily distracted. The cap sits too high on my head. Somebody should design blinkers for me," he explained.

He could usefully pass on that tip to his Ryder Cup team-mate and fellow eagle-eye Colin Montgomerie.

The Irishman was cheerfully voluble yesterday but knows from experience that cracking jokes on the Sunday flight home has always been a more difficult mood for him to achieve.

Harrington was followed in by Stephen Gallacher who had a 64, with the evergreen Des Smyth, and the Spaniards Carlos Rodiles and Miguel Angel Jimenez on 65.

In Madeira in March, Smyth became the oldest winner in tour history and the bonuses from that are still arriving.

Only this week he heard he was in the Rest of the World side for the Ryder Cup-style senior event against America in South Carolina next month. Gary Player and Arnold Palmer are the two captains.

"It's a guaranteed $100,000, and that's huge," he said. "Earlier in my career I never dreamt of earning that sort of money and I'm thrilled. It's made my year."

Twice Scottish amateur champion Gallacher, runner-up to compatriot Andrew Coltart in the Great North Open in England in June, also had eight birdies in what was the lowest round of his Tour career so far.

Sitting on an almost unassailable lead in the Order of Merit, Retief Goosen moved a step closer to clinching the Vardon Trophy with a 66.

As he had five birdies and no bogeys you would not have guessed he had been out there fighting a swing blown out of kilter by the winds in Scotland last week. His card suggested he had finally wrestled it into submission.

Needing to win here to retain a slight hope of hauling in Goosen, Darren Clarke went round in 67, a shot behind the South African and still running to standstill. The Ulsterman looked ready to call off the chase at one-under with three to play, but he then matched Harrington's eagle on the seventh and his two at the 177-yard ninth.

Malcom Mackenzie, the 40-year-old from Sheffield came here after playing 499 Tour events without a title. His 68 suggests he is still fighting to celebrate his 500th appearance with a win.