Pádraig Harrington finds himself in a tie for 10th after carding a three-under 68 in the opening round at the PGA Champions Tour’s Cologuard Classic at La Paloma in Arizona.
Unseasonably cold conditions greeted the field in the Arizona desert, but Harrington, making his first start of the season on US soil, got off to a hot start with birdies on the second and fourth holes before parring his way to the turn.
He turned up the temperature gauge a notch further when he rolled in a 25-footer for eagle from the fringe on the 11th, but things cooled off thereafter and a bogey on the next dropped him back to -3. From there, he parred the remaining six holes and sits four shots off the lead held by Australian Greg Chalmers at -7.
“A bitterly cold day so hopefully my game warms up with the weather over the weekend,” Harrington posted on X after his round.
Chalmers, making his 23rd start on the Champions circuit, has yet to taste victory but the former PGA Tour winner finished his opening round strongly with three birdies in the final four holes to take solo first round leader honours.
He leads fellow Australian Rod Pampling, Canadian Stephen Ames and South African Ernie Els by two shots on what is very much an international leaderboard.
“I honestly didn’t know or think that seven-under was doable,” Chalmers said. “I thought four or five – or even three-under when I saw the scores popping up – is a nice round. I think when I was five-under with two to play, that’s a nice round, and then I birdied and it makes it even better, makes it even sweeter at the end.”
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