Immaculate Harrington off to a flyer

Padraig Harrington's opening 67 in The Barclays was his only his fourth bogey free round of the year. Can he turn this one into a win?

In January's Abu Dhabi Championship he began with an error-free 68 but finished tied fifth. In the WGC-CA Championship at Doral and the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, he had to settle for 20th and tied second.

He was certainly happy with his opening effort at Liberty National, where he covered up his occasional mistakes with a brilliant short game display to trail the leaders by two shots in a share of eighth place

“I’m thrilled with it,” he said. “I know that it’s not leading the tournament or whatever, but before you head out on this golf course, you don’t know what you’re going to shoot. It really is a testing, intimidating golf course, and to break 70, if I can continue that this week, I’ll be a very happy man.”

And if he is to continue to go around the difficult Liberty National course without a bogey, as he did in the first round, he will have to be a magician as well.

“My short game was sharp today and when I did miss, I missed in the right places,” he said. “I’m happy that I holed the right putts at the right time.

“I won’t say it was because I had some insight to avoid bogeys. This is a tough golf course, and you just have to hit the shots a lot of times. But definitely the odd time, I did get away with it.”

Harrington's bogey free rounds this season

Third round Abu Dhabi Championship (68) finished T5
First round in WGC-CA Championhip at Doral (66) - T20
First round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone (64) - T2
First round in The Barclays (67) ?