Padraig Harrington hits his tee shot on the ninth hole during the first round of the 2021 PGA Championship held at the Ocean Course of Kiawah Island Golf Resort on May 20, 2021 in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)

Pádraig Harrington banished his short game fears and produced a trademark scrambling performance to storm into contention for his second PGA Championship at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course.

As Shane Lowry had zero luck on the greens before following a late double-bogey with a belated birdie at the 18th to shoot 73 and Rory McIlroy’s first round hoodoo struck again as he struggled to a 75, Harrington turned back the clock to that magical 1997 World Cup win with Paul McGinley at Pete Dye’s South Carolina masterpiece.

After arriving from missing the cut in the AT&T Bryon Nelson saying he was “a bit worried” about his short game, the European Ryder Cup skipper mixed an eagle and a solitary birdie with nine par saves and carded a one-under 71 to lie tied 16th, just four strokes shots behind leader Corey Conners.

The Canadian (29) made six birdies and 121 feet of putts in five-under 67 to lead by two strokes from the impressive Norwegian Viktor Hovland, 2011 champion Keegan Bradley, Aaron Wise, two-time winner Brooks Koepka, England’s Sam Horsfield and Australian Cameron Davis.

Defending champion Collin Morikawa, veteran Phil Mickelson and young gun Will Zalatoris were in a eight-man logjam for eighth after two-under 70s as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm shot 72, Jordan Spieth a 73 and Dustin Johnson a 76 following a closing double-bogey.

Given those scores, Harrington could be more than pleased after he produced a vintage short game display, scrambling for par four times in his first five holes and nine times in all on a day when the breeze dropped for the later starters.

His lone birdie came when he two-putted the par-five seventh and while he three-putted the 10th from the back fringe, he made amends by knocking in a 20 footer for eagle at the next.
He scrambled for pars again at the 12th, 14th and 15th and follow a bogey six at the 16th with another par save at the 17th before closing with a textbook par.

“I thought it was a really good setup,” said Harrington, who raised eyebrows earlier in the week when he suggested Sergio Garcia was a shoo-in for one of three wildcards with Ian Poulter not far behind.

“It's a big, tough golf course, but they set it up very fairly today. They moved enough tees up and they had some reasonable generous pin positions, so overall it was a good test. Maybe like all majors, maybe I was a bit defensive with my own play at times, but didn't put myself under much stress.”

Asked if he could make his own team if he won a Major this summer, he said: "I'd be very happy. I'm a bit long in the tooth now for -- Ryder Cup is a big -- five rounds of golf? No, I'm happy to be captain and let them hit the ball.”

As for the wildcard scenario and Lowry’s battle to make the team, he made it clear that he doesn’t consider him a rookie.

“In general, rookies have to play their way into a spot. Nobody really refers to Shane as a rookie. He's a major winner, so that's a completely different scenario,” he said.

“Again, that's what I'm saying, there's no rules to these things because you have to take these things into consideration, and the fact that he's a big-time player, he likes the big occasion -- even as a rookie he's not going to be star struck, is he.”

Lowry missed six birdie putts inside 15 feet in his first 16 holes and was level for the day before he plugged awkwardly in sandy area left of the 17th and made a double-bogey five after being forced to simply nudge his ball forward into a deep “bunker”.

The Clara man made little more than a 14 footer for birdie at the third, which he gave back by failing to get up and down at the par-three eighth and after finally making a 20 footer for birdie at the 18th, he will be hoping he can repeat his tee to green display today and make a few putts to get right back into contention.

“I played great today,” Lowry said. “My putter let me down big time. I felt like I had four great chances or I had four putts inside 10 feet on 6, 7, 8, 9. You hole a couple of those and you turn in a couple under, but I turn in -- I just kind of grinded it out all day, and I was hitting good shot after good shot after good shot.

“I pulled my tee shot on 17, but where else are you going to hit it? You're not going to hit it right. I got a really, really bad break there. That was disappointing.

“But I'm very happy the way I finished. I was very happy to bounce back from that double, with a birdie on the last especially.

“A hole like the last hole is not that easy, driver, 4-iron and holed the putt. It's really nice, going to make dinner taste a little bit nicer tonight. But it's kind of one of those rounds where I probably should have shot a couple under anyway, and I should be right in the tournament. But I feel like the way I'm playing I am in the tournament.”

As for his double bogey at the 17th, he said: “Yeah, I hit it left and it kind of pitched six inches over the bunker, and I don't know whether it was sand blowing out of the bunker by the wind, kind of plugged there.

“I didn't know where to stand, I didn't know where to hit it. I was thinking of taking the penalty shot. I thought the bunker shot was easier, then I hit it in the bunker and I hit it on the part of the bunker where there was no sand in it and I hit a bad bunker shot. It was a bit of -- yeah, it wasn't the best break I've ever got, but I suppose if I made 4 on 17 and had to par the last, I would have been like, oh, 1-over isn't that bad.

”To birdie the last and play the last two in 1-over was okay. I just need to go out tomorrow and do the same thing. If I hole a few putts I can be right there on the weekend..”

As for McIlroy, the Holywood star could be forgiven for having a flashback to the final round of the 2018 Masters after he carved his opening drive miles right in the water and went on to open with a three-over 75.

The Ocean Course is an intimidating beast, even for the man who hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy there in 2012. But McIlroy was never totally comfortable with the driver after that opening bogey, hitting only seven fairways and just nine greens to end the day eight shots off the pace.

He’s struggled in the opening rounds of Majors since the most recent of his four wins seven years ago and is now 35 over for his last 24, starting 75-76-75 in his last three starts alone.

He can get back into the mix if he can break par this afternoon. But that's a huge "if" after he finished the day tied 77th, a shot outside the top 70 and ties who will make the cut today.

He was forced to rely heavily on his short game just to keep his round going. But while got up and down for par four times in five holes on that tough stretch into the wind from the 14th to the 18th and turned in level par, he missed two putts inside six feet in a three-over-par back nine, leaving himself an uphill task in what will likely be even more challenging afternoon conditions today.

He was fortunate at his opening hole, the 441-yard 10th, that he got to drop on a piece of sand flatten by a buggy tyre and fortunate again that while he slightly thinned his third from the sandy waste area at the back of the green, it rolled back off a backstop and finished five feet away, allowing him to brush in the putt for bogey.

Playing partner Koepka ended up making a double-bogey six after finding the waste area with his drive and taking three more to find the green. The Floridian went on to regroup and card a brilliant 69 as McIlroy ended his day alongside the other member of the threeball, the world No 2 Justin Thomas.

"It's a major," said Koepka, who has been struggling with a knee injury. "I'm going to show up. I'm ready to play. I've been itching to do this since Augusta."

McIlroy battled too, and after that initial mistake at the 10th, he two-putted the par-five 11th and rolled in an 18 footer for another birdie at the 12th to get into the red.

But while he got up and down for pars at the 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th, he bogeyed the par-five 16th where he lost his lay up well right in a sandy area and was denied relief for an embedded ball under the local rules

He hacked out, pitched to nine feet but missed for par and would go on to bogey the first two holes on the front nine and then three-putted the fifth from 25 feet.

While he replied in style, firing a wedge to 12 feet to set up a birdie three at the sixth, he completed a hat-trick of bogeys on the par-fives, driving 350 yards into seagrass at the seventh, where after hacking back into play, he pulled his third into sand and missed a five-footer for par.

As for the leader, Conners (29) showed his 10th place finish in the Masters was no fluke as he made six birdies and took just 24 putts in a 67 on a day when the average score was 74.7.

“I'd say it's impossible to be stress-free around this golf course,” said the man from Listowel, Ontario. “You can't fall asleep out there on any holes. It's very challenging.”

He added: “It was a really special round. It's really nice to see some mid-range birdie putts fall in the hole… A lot of putts had chances to go in and I made some nice saves, as well.”