Irish challenge in poor shape

God knows Van the Man got it right. Of all the days to wake up nursing a splitting headache, with an early slot on the timesheet in the first round of the Murphy's Irish Open to boot, Padraig Harrington immediately suspected that it would be one of those hangdog days that gnaw away and torment the mind.

Unfortunately, like Morrison's lyrics, he was to be proved correct.

When Harrington stood on the first tee-box, his 10th hole, the sheepish grin was masking inner turmoil. "My mind just wasn't with it," he admitted. At that stage, one part of Ireland's World Cup-winning team (playing in a European Tour event on home soil for the first time since that great win) had taken 45 strokes to be nine over for nine holes, and already his survival in the tournament was in jeopardy.

Granted, he wasn't alone. Despite the presence of 27 Irishmen in the field, only one of them, John McHenry, managed to beat par. Collectively, the Irish challenge was in poor shape after the first round of the richest golf tournament to take place on this island and McHenry's 70, which he attributed to "smart golf," left him one ahead of Keith Nolan as the leading home player.

Paul McGinley, the other part of that Kiawah Island triumph, was "battling along" to a sub-par round until picking up a triple bogey seven on the last to finish on 73 alongside Philip Walton and Robert Giles, while Darren Clarke was one of five Irishmen to shoot an opening round of 74. No, not a good day at the office for the home brigade, with Harrington's 81 eclipsing them all.

Harrington doesn't suffer from migraine, and the headache was an unwelcome visitor. "I went to bed with a headache, woke up with a headache, it was still there when I played and my mind was gone after 10 holes," he said, adding: "I'm not blaming it or making any excuses. I don't like to take anything, the reason for the score was that my concentration wasn't great and I made too many mistakes.

"Normally, if I'm not swinging well, my concentration enables me to cut down on the number of bad shots. I can put on a few Bandaids and limit the damage." However, the 10th green, his first, provided evidence that even those powers of recovery had gone AWOL when he three-putted from four feet, the first of four threeputts in his horrible day.

Ironically, it was his swing rather than his putting that concerned him most. "It was the worst I've putted in a long time but at least I know what's wrong with the putting," he explained.

His approach to the 18th demonstrated his utter lack of confidence with his swing. Harrington had 160 yards downwind and, normally, would hit an easy eight iron. He used a seven iron "because I was hitting so badly" and proceeded to go into the water on his way to a double bogey six.

What now? "These things happen. I'll try my hardest and give 100 per cent on every single shot, as I always do, in the second round. Maybe I can still make the cut." The ego may have been damaged, but the fighting words hinted at Harrington's resilience.

Some Irish players were left to curse the 18th, which prevented them finishing with sub-par rounds. Nolan was two under par playing the last when he made his "first mistake of the day" by trying to reach the green with a fiveiron from the rough, hit the rock wall and skidded into the water on his way to a double bogey six.

The US Tour rookie said: "I didn't drive too well, but got away with it although I put pressure on my putting."

Nolan had just 26 putts in his round and, so, the remedial work was carried out on the driving range under the watchful eye of his coach Mick Walby. Likewise, McGinley played a near-identical approach shot to Nolan's before finishing with a seven, while Burns, level par on the fairway, was another to discover water on the last and he also had a closing seven.

So it was that McHenry showed a touch of class to get up and down from the thick rough around the last green for a par four which left him on level par 71. McHenry, who now plays on the Canadian Tour, used his sponsor's invite to good effect and after a shaky start that included two bogeys in his opening five holes, the Corkman chipped in from 15 feet for birdie at the 15th and sank another 12 footer for birdie at the 17th to be the only Irish player in red.

"I'm simply delighted," said McHenry, who has been working with Ulster sports psychologist Peter Dennison. "I always get psyched up for the Irish Open."

If there is to be a decent Irish representation in the field for the weekend, then many of his compatriots may need to take a leaf out of his book.