More good than bad as Harrington shoots 71

GOLF:THE OLD adage about one swallow not making a summer sprung to mind. After a solid opening round in this 111th US Open at Congressional, Pádraig Harrington – the player credited by his peers as being the catalyst for the European surge in recent Majors – at least had a smile creasing his face, but there was no fear of him losing the run of himself.

In fact, a bogey six on his finishing hole, the par-five ninth, gave him a reminder that any loss of focus would be punished. Still, a first round 71, level par, left the 39-year-old Dubliner nicely positioned for the task ahead.

With one-quarter of the job done, Harrington – in only his second tournament back after a lay-off caused by a hamstring-cum-knee injury – could at least contemplate moving forward over the next three rounds.

“Yeah, there were some good signs, I made some good decisions . . . things are looking up,” he observed, before adding: “I feel like I need a little bit more over the next three days (to win). But, who knows? My trouble (over the past two years) has been putting 63 holes together to get into position on the last nine holes (on a Sunday). If I can get into contention with nine holes to go, I know I have done it before. But there is potential.”

In the run-up to this season’s second Major, Harrington had worked with his mind guru, Dr Bob Rotella, on attempting to reduce the pressure he was putting on himself. “I am trying too hard,” he offered as the reasoning put to him by Rotella.

Yesterday, Harrington felt there was still room for improvement in that problem area. “I’m still trying too hard before I hit the shots and during the (pre-shot) routine. I need to ease off on myself a bit. I’ve always had good acceptance after hitting a bad golf shot. I’d rank myself as one of the best players in the world for acceptance . . . it’s just that I could do with trusting myself a little bit more,” reasoned Harrington.

Still, there was more good than bad to take from his round. Since he won his third Major in the US PGA at Oakland Hills in 2008, Harrington has found it difficult to get into the thick of things in the Majors. He has missed the cut in four of his last five – most recently at the Masters in Augusta where he suffered from a neck injury – and there was some evidence that he had turned the corner in a round yesterday which yielded three birdies and three bogeys in a 71.

“I was desperately unlucky with the par putt on the last . . . but 71 is probably a fair reflection, even though I would have liked to have been a few shots better.”

Harrington, with a new set of Wilson Staff V2 irons in his bag, was more comfortable in his approach shots.

“There definitely seems to be a nice bit of control in them. And they seem to fly very nicely with a bit more of spin. It kind of suits a US Open test . . . it’s just the lucky thing about being a pro, they’re next year’s model and I get them six months in advance.

“They’re forged irons that are coming out next year.”

Rather looking into the future, though, Harrington’s task is to stay in the now over the next three days as he seeks to get into a position to challenge.