PADRAIG HARRINGTON OPENED with a four-over round of 75 in the first round of the Senior Open Championship at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Wales, leaving him nine shots off leader Miguel Angel Jimenez. 

Harrington was the oldest man to make the cut at last week’s Open Championship, and he admitted yesterday that playing 72 holes around Hoylake was “a bit of a grind”, and he started slowly today, opening with a double-bogey on his first hole. He found no momentum from there: a birdie at the par-five sixth was immediately followed by a bogey, and then another on the ninth. The pattern repeated itself after the turn: another birdie on a par-five (13) which was followed by an instant bogey. Harrington marred his card with another bogey on 17. 

Like Harrington, Darren Clarke opened with a double-bogey on the very first hole, but he played the rest of his round in a three-birdie even-par to finish on two-over for the tournament, seven shots from leader Jimenez. 

Jimenez lead thanks to a five-under round of 66, and is two shots clear of Alex Cejka and Mario Tiziani.