Padraig Harrington had his injured wrist strapped but used his head in posting a respectable style with a round of a two-under par 70 on day one of the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur.
The triple Major winner, and sporting a bit of a post-festive season girth, headed to the Saujana clubhouse five shots behind Aussie Marcus Fraser and Spaniard Nacho Elvira who each posted five-under par 67s.
It is Harrington’s first competitive round anywhere in 130 days and since posting a final round 69 to share 35th place in last November’s Nedbank Challenge in South Africa.
It has been 130 days since Harrington shot a similar 69 on the final day of last November’s Nedbank Challenge in South Africa but it has been an eventual four months for the triple Major winner.
First event of the year ✅
Back from injury ✅A good day at the office for @padraig_h. pic.twitter.com/AYA1wuSECJ
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) March 21, 2019
The Dubliner broke a bone in his wrist mid-December and as a result of the injury, Harrington had to pull the plug on as many as five events on both the European Tour and PGA Tour.
In early January Harrington was also formally announced as the 2020 European Ryder Cup captain.
He teed-up in steamy Kuala Lumpur, and with his wrist supported by blue ‘medical tape, for a 10th time in his career and got his round off to a great start with a birdie at the first.
However, Harrington gave the shot back with a bogey at the second and he then repeated the birdie/bogey scenario at the sixth and seventh to make the turn at level par and with all players in the co-sanctioned event competing under a ‘preferred lie’ rule following typical electrical storms that are a part of living in Malaysian capital.
Harrington got back to one-under par with a birdie on 10 and then moved to two-under for a first occasion with a birdie gem on the par-3 17th.
He leaked his second shot right into a greenside bunker at the uphill 18th and with Harrington then playing a superb third shot with his ball just miss hitting the flagstick.
Though he looked on some despair when he birdied putt just missed the cup for a par to be just inside the top-30, and in an event he has finished runner-up on two occasions.
“It is four months since I played a competitive round and really it didn’t seem that is was the first round I had played a round of golf, so very pleased,” he said.
“I didn’t play very well as I didn’t hit it very well and especially off the tee, as I really struggled so it was a really good score at the end of the day.
“I could have made one or two more putts there at the end but then I holed a couple there early in round to keep a bit of momentum in it, as I could have slipped back to two or three-over early on so I kept it together on the back nine and used my head well and managed to get a reasonable score out of it.”
Harrington was last in KL in 2013 for the then Malaysian Open but it has been 14-years since he shared eighth place when that same event was staged at the famed Saujana course in 2005.
“I always have a bit of trouble in reading the greens here at Saujana as I have a little bit of bias in my eyesight and the first week back out I am trying to adjust between what it feels like and what I see,” he said.
“It is always the case with me as it takes a couple of weeks just to get used to it.”
And while his eyesight is not a major concern the current World No. 208 was asked about his wrist and if it was causing him any concern.
“Yeah, the wrist is okay but then I am struggling a bit with my thumb and little finger as there is a lot of things going on when you put it in a cast for six weeks,” he said.
“It is just amazing how much periphery stuff that goes on, so I am trying to get all the different muscles, ligaments and all of them strengthened-up and working.
“I certainly didn’t think of them out there which was great.”
