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Fore!

Harrington getting into the swing of things in California

An opening round of 68 was good enough to leave the Irishman just one shot off the lead after the first day of the Northern Trust Open.

Updated 18:00

HE MAY BE taking quite a lot of flak for his ongoing efforts to reinvent his swing, but Padraig Harrington has every reason to be pleased with his progress after the opening day of the Northern Trust Open.

Harrington shot an opening round of three under-par which was good enough to leave him in a share of tenth place at the top of a packed leaderboard.

Nine stars are currently tied for the lead on four under. They are Australians John Senden, Robert Allenby and Aaron Baddeley, Martin Laird of Scotland, Sweden’s Carl Petterson, and the American quartet of Spencer Levin, Ben Martin, Bill Haas and J.B. Holmes.

Teeing off on the 10th hole, Harrington carded a bogey-free front nine, picking up just the one birdie on 12.

He continued impressively after the turn, shooting an eagle three on the first hole before adding another birdie on the par four 7th.

His only dropped shot of the round came on the 4th hole where he took four shots on the par three.

Harrington’s second round is now scheduled to begin this evening at 20:20 Irish time.

Last year’s winner, Steve Stricker, currently finds himself in a tie for 91st position after a disappointing opening round of 73 left him on two over-par.

At the Avantha Masters in India, Paul McGinley has had a massively disappointing first two days.

The Irishman will miss the cut in Delhi after he struggled to a total of seven over-par after 36 holes, falling far short of the projected cut at level par.

Follow the live leaderboard for the Northern Trust Open here > | Click here for the Avantha Masters >