Padraig Harrington happy with steady 69 - Maybank Malaysian Open 2006

The Irish ace, playing his first tournament for nine weeks, fashioned a bogey-free round at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club to lay four shots behind leader Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand.

"I said before the start that I'd sacrifice not having a quick start for not having a slow start, so 69 is fine," said Harrington.

"I'd like to have holed a few putts on the back nine, though. I hit it close enough all the way through the last nine holes and had nine reasonable birdie efforts, but didn't hole any of them.

"It could easily have been six-under, no problem. My eye isn't quite in and I'm not quite confident with my reading of putts. I'm over-borrowing with my left-to-right putts, but hopefully that will be alright tomorrow.

"I'm not going to complain as shooting 69 is never a problem. I'd have settled for that before going out."

Harrington is one of the favourites at the Maybank Malaysian Open, which is once again co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours and promoted by Parallel Media Asia.

He is seeking his first victory in the event after twice finishing runner-up and registering two other top-10 finishes.

Harrington - winner of two events on the US PGA Tour last year - spent his lengthy break working on his swing and admitted it had taken a while to get comfortable on a day when the KLGCC's par-72 West Course was giving up a string of low scores.

"I didn't swing it very well for the first 14 holes. I'd gone back to my old ways despite all the work I'd done, but over the last four holes I got back into it and made some really nice swings, so I'm very happy about that," he said.

"There's still plenty of work to be done, but no bogey in the first round is always a good start."