ROCHESTER, NY - MAY 15: Shane Lowry hits his tee shot on the ninth hole during a practice round before the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on Monday, May 15, 2023 in Rochester, New York. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/PGA of America)

Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry were looking at the glass half full despite shooting over par in the first round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

Veteran Harrington battled his way to a two-over 72 to trail clubhouse leader Bryson DeChambeau by six shots as Lowry got little return for a great deal of excellent play and shot 73.

“I worked hard for it in a lot of places,” said Harrington, who had three bogeys but just one birdie. “I sort of drove it okay and didn’t hit many fairways, which was a killer. A few times I missed fairways, I overplayed the shot a bit. The wind was moving about a bit, so that was tough.

“I missed a few greens, one of my old habits of trying to play into the middle of the green. The chip shots I didn’t get up and down were all on the long side.”

Bidding to become golf’s oldest Major winner, the Dubliner still walked away reasonably pleased.

“I holed a 15-footer on the last for par which makes a difference because you work hard,” he said of a day that saw him get up and down seven times out of ten for par. “I had chances on 13, 14 and 15 for birdies, then 17 and 18 are playing hard.”

His 72 looked very ordinary alongside DeChambeau’s 66 or the 67s of Scottie Scheffler and Corey Conners.

“I am impressed with Scheffler, no bogey,” Harrington said of the world number two, who got up and down 100pc of the time with seven par saves.

“I feel like I can play better,” he said. “If that was my bad day, you’re delighted. I am definitely a better chipper when it is a hard chip than an easy chip, but I saw some good stuff out there. Putted very well but didn’t hole those birdie putts, which is a pity.”

As for the rib injury that bothered him in the Regions Tradition last week, he said: “The rib is sore. I will do nothing, just leave it be.”

Lowry suffered some early pain when he knifed a bunker shot over the green at the drivable 14th after a protracted drop as his playing partners’ golf balls were close to his and they would have been forced to stand on his ball.

When he eventually replaced his ball, he was out of his routine and made a mental error, dropping the first of three shots in a three-over 73 that also featured just one birdie.

“It was relentless out there,” said the Offaly man, who also bogeyed the 17th and followed an outrageous birdie at the second, where he holed a 52-foot putt from off the green by sandwiching some excellent golf between bogeys at the third and ninth, his 18th.

“Every time I hit an average shot, I made a bogey,” he said. “I hit a lot of good shots, played a lot of good golf, but three-over is not great, is it? Two over would have been fine but a bad bogey on nine leaves a bit sour.

“I had a great putt on eight, missed that, then a bit unfortunate on nine, behind that tree. If it was anywhere else you’d hit it around the green. It is just a hard golf course.”

As for the bogey at the 14th, his fifth, he said: “I started lovely, then on the 14th hole, there so much going on and placing your ball back on a spot you never place it and get the same lie… I probably should have walked up, took my time a bit more.

‘That was very annoying because I played the first number of holes didn’t really miss a shot, except on 13. It is how it is. That is kind of how my year has been going so far. I just have to keep battling away.”

The difficulty of the course was underlined by world number one, Jon Rahm, who was one-under through seven holes but then started missing fairways and short putts and made six bogeys in his next nine holes before following a double bogey six at the at the seventh with a birdie at the eighth for a six-over 76.

“The main thing on this course is hitting the fairway,” Rahm said. “If you put the ball in the fairway you can actually give yourself a lot of good chances. Even 18 today was playing downwind, so if you put it on the fairway, you can have a good look at maybe hitting it close and that's what I didn't do.

“Obviously the first six, seven -- six holes of the day I played really good. Put myself in a good spot and after that I found myself battling. Couldn't find the fairway and the fairways that I missed cost me bogeys.

“The only thing I can look back on myself is the three short putts I missed on the back nine, I'm between three to five feet, if I make those putts, I shoot 3-over which is not the worst-case scenario.”

He’s certainly not giving up.

”Yeah, if I can somehow manage to putt a low one tomorrow and find myself close to even par through the weekend -- not at the weekend, sorry, going into Sunday, I think I'll have a decent chance,” he said.