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Padraig Harrington happy to be under par

Padraig Harrington launched his bid for a rare hat-trick of British Open titles with a one-under-par 69 in Thursday’s opening round after starting the week with apprehension over his ball-striking.

The Irishman had arrived at Turnberry’s Ailsa Course for the year’s third major concerned over his game after missing his last five cuts on the PGA and European tours.

“Any time you’re shooting 60s in a major tournament you can’t be too displeased,” Harrington told reporters after ending a benign day of low scoring five shots behind leader Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain.

“I would say I hit the ball well but played probably with a certain amount of trepidation. I wasn’t exactly the most confident after the last couple of weeks.

“I hit a lot of nice shots where I was aiming in the middle of the green. I didn’t really have the confidence to chase the pins and was trying to hole from 25, 30 feet most of the day.

“It was good,” added the three-times major winner. “I got up and down when I needed to get up and down. While I wasn’t shooting the lights out, it gives me hope for the next three days.”

The workaholic Irishman began this week working hard on his swing with coach Bob Torrance.

“We’re trying to build it every day so that I get better in terms of my confidence and belief,” Harrington said after a round featuring two birdies and a lone bogey.

“I certainly struck the ball real solid all day. If I trust it a little bit more, as I did in a number of shots, it looks pretty good.

“It’s just a question of trusting it a bit now, and the more rounds I play and the more I get up and down when I miss the odd shot, the more confidence I’m going to have.

“It looked like a day you did need to hole the 20-footers. I didn’t do that. But it’s a long week and I’ll be patient. And if I keep rolling them at the hole, they’ll drop.”

Harrington won his first British Open in a playoff with Sergio Garcia at Carnoustie in 2007 before successfully defending his title at Royal Birkdale last year.