Antalya, Turkey ….

Padraig Harrington went from flying with buget airline Easy Jet to moving straight into business class on day one of the Turkish Airlines Open at the Regnun Carya resort in Antalya.

Harrington’s six-under par 65 was a stroke better than a par of 66s earlier this year on the PGA Tour and a best in Europe since a 63 on route to victory in last year’s Portugal Masters.

If left the Dubliner just a stroke behing the leading trio of Dutchman Joost Luiten, Belgium’s big-hitting Nicolas Colsaerts and South African Haydn Porteous.

Padraig Harrington goes from flying Easy Jet to business class on day one of Turkish Airlines Open. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)

Harrington didn’t drop a shot in superb scoring conditions and a day after he won back 50 Euro from Shane Lowry in a practice range chipping contest, and after losing the same amount a day earlier in an on-course practice round.

“Myself and Shane spent an hour around the chipping green on Wednesday just having great fun trying to get closest to the hole,” said Harrington.

“Suffice to say, I managed to win back 50 Euro I had lost a day earlier.

“Then when we went to dinner, myself Dunners (Paul Dunne) and Shane where we discussed over dinner what would we do if the three of us were in a play-off this week and would be trying any harder than for 50 Euro we were playing for on the range.”

Harrington’s opening day effort clearly ignited hopes of a first victory this year while a strong showing would also be a great springboard into qualifying automatically for the 2018 Ryder Cup given this week’s whopping $US7m purse.

“The reason I am here and thankfully I could be in the States, is because if you win one of these two events it puts you under a bit of pressure as in you’re going to be right there for the Ryder Cup,” he said.

“To be honest, if I won one of these two events it would change my schedule for next year. It would mean a huge focus, from winning one of these you have a great chance of making the team.

“It kind of would be in your own hands if you got a good start like that and that’s why I am here, knock one of these off there’s such big points in it that it puts you in a good position to make the team.”

Harrington, given he is competing on an invitation, will not earn any Race to Dubai points but whatever he earns will count towards the Ryder Cup.

Harrington revealed he spent last week playing the revamped Adare Manor course before then boarding an EasyJet flight out of London Luton to Turkey, and including paying 35 quid for his golf clubs.

Work on Adara Manor is clearly in line with the course bidding to host the 2026 Ryder Cup

And Harrington and 2018 European Ryder Cup captain, Thomas Bjorn have been seen in discussion this week with observors agreeing should he not qualify automatically then the Dubliner will be heading to Paris as one of the Dane’s five vice-captains.

Harrington has been a vice-captain under both Paul McGinley in 2016 and Darren Clarke in 2016.

“Thomas is one of the persons that is hard not to bump into,”said Harrington after posting a bogey-free 66 to be sharing fourth place in Turkey.

“So, I’ve been bumping in Thomas and he and myself have been talking, and thankfully we do talk.  We’ve both been prior vice-captains and playing together for 20 years.

“He has been very polite as Darren was and not coming and talking like advice, leaving him believe I am still a player.”

“In another two months trhereee months six months time maybe that conversation will start changing.”

At this stage, Bjorn has only announced Swede Robert Karlsson as a vice-captain.