Harrington & Kieffer Set Pace Irish Open; Tournament Host McIlroy Shoots 80


Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington and Germany's Max Kieffer each fired 4-under 67s to sahre the 18-hole lead at the Irish Open. The European Tour event got underway Thursday at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland.

Harrington, a 43-year-old Dubliner, carded seven birdies and three bogeys, while Kieffer - playing in the day's last group - posted five birdies, an eagle on the par-5 12th hole and three bogeys for a one-stroke edge over Denmark's Søren Hansen.

Harrington, winner of two straight Open Championships in 2007 and '08 along with the PGA Championship in 2008, was treading water at 1-over par through 10 holes. But he posted five birdies in the next six holes to soar up the leaderboard.

"After nine or 10 holes I thought to myself, 'C'mon, we've got to hit a good shot, no need to be afraid,' " said Harrington, who missed out by a stroke qualifying for the 2015 U.S. Open at Sectional Qualifying in England on Monday.

"I know from experience now that I'm in a position where there's many ways of competing in this tournament. I've two options; play great from now on and try and get away from the field or play average and fight it out on Sunday afternoon."

Kieffer was also pleased with his performance. "I played good, and I think the key was today to hole some putts," the 24-year-old told the European Tour's website. "I had two three-putts from off the green on the front nine, but then I made two long putts after that, so that really like kept the momentum up. That was really nice.

"It's a long week. It's a tough golf course. Some of the best players in the world, they struggle to shoot par around here, so it's going to be an interesting next three days, I think."

England's Danny Willett, Dane Søren Kjeldsen and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo share fourth after recording 69s on the classic links course in Newcastle County Down.

Tournament host Rory McIlory of Northern Ireland got off to a rugged start. The 26-year-old and top-ranked player in the world posted nine bogeys - and no birdies - en route to an uncharacteristic 80 in front of his hometown fans. Only two players shot worse.

"It was not quite as difficult as I made it look," McIlroy said after his round. "I was hitting it well on the range, keeping it down and hitting half-shots, but the wind was not up that much on the course and I was caught between trying to play two ways. That led to missing greens, which led to lots of 8- to 12-foot putts for par, which led to missing all of them."

The title sponsor of the Irish Open is the Rory McIlroy Foundation, and the Ulsterman has pledged to donate all his winnings this week to the foundation, which made his start particularly grating.

"It's disappointing because I want to go out there and play well, not just for myself but for a lot of other people," noted McIlroy, the headliner among galleries that will total around 20,000 a day for the event. "I'll just have to pick myself up and go out there tomorrow and shoot a good one. I want to give the fans something to cheer about and not just get sympathy claps as I got coming off the ninth green.

"My goal will be to make some birdies, make my first birdie of the tournament at some point," added McIlroy, who has won twice this year at the WGC Cadillac Match Play Championship and the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago.

"I've missed the cut the last two years so I don't want to make it three in a row," he said of his recent performances at the Irish Open. "I want to at least go out there tomorrow and fight for it, try to claw my way back towards the cut line and if I can sneak in there, that'll be great."

Seven players opened with 1-under 70s on a day involving cold, blustery conditions and an occasional rain shower. Among those starting with a 71 was 2015 Players champion Rickie Fowler, who came into the tournament ranked ninth in the world.

Fowler felt for his friend and playing partner McIlroy. "It's tough to see," said the 26-year-old Californian, who finished runner-up to McIlroy in last year's Open Championship and will be in the same group with McIlroy on Friday.

"You don't want to see someone struggle and not the start that he was looking for this week. I'm assuming that it'll be a little different day tomorrow for him. That's golf. We've all been through it, and I'm sure we'll go out and have some fun, hopefully feed off of each other tomorrow."

Defending champion Mikko Ilonen of Finland opened with a 76.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015040/leaderboard/index.html.