Pádraig Harrington admitted he was still feeling his way around the East Course at Broadmoor after signing for a three-under 67 which gave him a share of the lead after the opening day of the US Senior Open.
Harrington, a former US Senior Open winner, was in cruise control early on, rolling in birdies on the second, third, sixth and eighth holes to pull clear of the field. The Dubliner had only seen the back nine once in practice and dropped his only shot of the day on 15 and he was disappointed that he didn’t keep his foot on the gas as he dropped into a share of the lead with Mark Hensby.
“I played really nicely early on. I was 4-under through eight and probably could have been a little bit more. I three-putted 9. The back nine is hard, but I was still really feeling my way around that nine.
“I only played it once before (back nine). It was a little bit tentative in the lead. I suppose it’s a little harder when you’re leading and not knowing the course 100 percent like you would like to.
“I got through most of it. Didn’t really create chances on the back nine. I wasn’t in trouble very much, only on 15, but obviously there’s not as many birdie chances on that nine.
“Overall, disappointed with my bogey on 15. I thought my tee shot was okay. I think we looked in the wrong place, to be honest. I think I was much further down, considering where my third ball went. That was a little disappointing. Nice to make 5. As I said, it would have been nice to birdie one of the last couple.
“We’re in at 3-under. There’s a long way to go. I don’t think being 4-under makes any difference to being 3-under at this stage of the tournament.”
Harrington’s plan is to get back into an aggressive frame of mind especially on the front nine where he sees the bulk of the scoring opportunities where he can take advantage of his length.
“Two reachable par-5s and a par-4 on the front nine that was nearly reachable, compared to the back nine that doesn’t give you anything in a few places. If you’re conservative off the tee, you’ve got quite a long second shot.
“So there really isn’t any big opportunities on the back nine. On the front nine, as I said, there’s a couple of good eagle chances on the front nine if you play your cards right.
“Yeah, distinctly, there’s a huge difference between the two nines, to be honest. Still, it’s stroke play. It shouldn’t make any difference to us. But in terms of you’ve got to make your score going out and hold onto it over the last nine.”
Darren Clarke is four shots off the pace after a one-over round of 71 with the top-51 players separated by just four shots on a tightly packed leaderboard.
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