Pádraig Harrington might have been pleased to hear the hooter bring play to a halt on the opening day of the RSM Classic after finding himself languishing towards the foot of the leaderboard.
Harrington was three-over through fourteen holes of his first round and in a tie for 145th position knowing only a win would see him maintain his PGA Tour playing privileges for next season.
The three-time major winner bogeyed two of his first three holes before a double bogey six on the fifth left him with a mountain to climb. His first birdies of the day came at the eleventh.
Eric Cole, Cameron Young and David Thompson lead on six-under-par with Ryder Cup star Ludvig Aberg a shot further back.
“We got the worst of it on 4, the par 5. It’s already like 625 or something and I hit about as good a drive as I can and about the best 3-iron I could have to still have like 125 yards in, which doesn’t happen all that often,” Young said. “That hole was playing about 750 probably.
“I feel like I didn’t strike it great in the middle, but just managed that part of the round well. I made a couple really nice relatively simple up-and-downs, but made them mostly stress free. Yeah, just kept it together pretty well.
“I’ve had some time off, I was kind of ready to go back to work and this is a nice place to bring my family, so they’re all here with me. Yeah, I just — you can only be at home I think so long and it was nice to just see what work I’ve done at home and kind of bring it to a tournament and see how it goes. Then I’ve gotten some more time off to kind of either go figure some more stuff out or kind of keep going the same direction.”
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