Pádraig Harrington marked his return to PGA Tour Champions action with a four-under round of 68 in the SAS Championship and it sees him part of a four-way tie for the lead.
A bogey on the 15th was the Dubliner’s only blemish, and he carded birdies on four, five, 12, 14 and 17 to join Robert Karlsson, Chad Campbell and Stewart Cink at the head of affairs, and though he’d played in biblical conditions at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship the week prior, the weather in North Carolina wasn’t quite what he was expecting.
“Yeah, I think I expected to come from St. Andrews, probably the slowest greens of the year to the fastest greens of the year. I didn’t expect to have to put a jacket on because of the cold,” he laughed after his round.
“I worked my way around the golf course very nice. I played very well, to be honest. Hit a bad tee shot on 15 kind of out of nowhere. Yeah, 15. Outside of that, it was pretty good all day, gave myself lots of chances. Didn’t have any — I wasn’t hitting three-, four-footers back for par, they were all stone dead tap-ins, so it was a reasonably stress-free day.”
The greens at Prestonwood Country Club are always lightning quick, but Harrington admitted that they might be the quickest greens he’s ever played on and given the length and scope of his career, that’s quite a statement.
“I think they’re as fast as you could possibly get them. Yeah, no, they’re the fastest greens, I’d say as fast as I’ve ever putted on anywhere at any stage at any time,” he said.
“Thankfully they slowed down a little bit later in the afternoon. Very early on there were a couple of putts, like I had a six-footer on my fourth hole and I was lagging, pure lagging it down there. It dropped in but I was like, ‘do not get this past the hole’.
If you were outside of the hole, especially chipping on this bermuda, it was very, very awkward. The goal today was hit as many fairways and as many greens as you could. Obviously just eliminate the stress of those three-or four-footers with the pace of the greens. It’s just difficult, a difficult golf course with this wind. I think as it warmed up it got a little easier, so I expect it to be quite tough the next few days.”
With the weather expected to turn really difficult over the next two days, Harrington feels that it’s going to be a battle of attrition.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a tough week,” he added. “Like I’m not going to go and hit any shots, I’m just going to go and rest up and know that it’s going to be a mental battle for the next 36 holes.”
Darren Clarke struggled on day one, shooting a four-over 76 that leaves him tied for 59th, but it was the start of the round where he made two doubles and two bogeys in the first five holes where he did the damage.
Steven Alker, Bernhard Langer and Billy Andrade trail the leaders by a shot, with a further four players, including Miguel Angel Jimenez and Alex Cejka a shor further back and sharing eighth.
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