Padraig Harrington's bid to steal a march on his European Tour Order of Merit rival Paul Casey went awry when the Irishman shot a seven over par 77 in the opening round of the Mallorca Classic to lie 11 strokes behind leaders Niclas Fasth of Sweden, South African Andrew McLardy and Ireland's Gary Murphy.
Harrington added the Mallorca Classic to his schedule after his victory in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and the first prize at Pula Golf Club would take Harrington to the top of the Order of Merit. But the Dubliner’s goal of making a dent in the €218,185 he trails Casey, who is not playing in Majorca, suffered a set-back during a breezy day on the Balearic island..
"I didn't inspire myself with my ball-striking but I'll go out and try tomorrow," Harrington said after handing in a card that included a triple-bogey at the seventh, his 16th hole, when his ball went out of bounds.
"A change of wind direction from what I practised in put a little bit of doubt in my head and I made a lot of uncommitted swings."
Robert Karlsson, who also has a chance of topping the Order of Merit, started with one over par 71, one behind his Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia.
At the other end of the Order of Merit, joint leader Murphy is involved in a battle to retain his playing privileges for another season. The top 118 players on the Order of Merit on Sunday evening will retain their cards for 2007 and Murphy currently occupies 118th place and needs a strong finish to safeguard his place on The European Tour.
"It's horrible out there," admitted Murphy, who has missed his last four halfway cuts.
"You try not to dwell on your situation but it's not to be confused with enjoyable.
"I probably concentrated a little better today and maybe that's what I've not been doing enough this year."
Starting at the tenth, Murphy birdied his first two holes before picking up a third shot of the day by holing a 25 foot putt on the 14th. He dropped a shot on the 17th after pulling his drive left but hut back with another birdie on the first. Three putts cost him a shot on the third before birdies at the fifth and eighth completed a tidy opening round of 66.
Fasth also shot a four under par 66 as he looks for a second Spanish success of the season following his victory in the Andalucia Open de España Valle Romano in April. After a quiet first nine, where he only picked up one birdie, the Swedish Ryder Cup player came to life coming home with four birdies in six holes on before bogeying the ninth after finding sand.
“It was not brilliant, but steady,” said Fasth. “I thought more would happen after the Spanish Open but just made cuts which has been a bit frustrating. Today I was happy with the round.”
McLardy needs a top two finish to force his way into the field for next week’s Volvo Masters and did himself no harm with a 66 to share the first round lead. An impressive seven birdies filled his card although a mistake on the third, where he hit a two iron into bushes off the tee, cost him a double bogey.
“It was really breezy so seven birdies is really good,” commented McLardy. “I made a silly double bogey but I have never been here before so didn’t know how difficult it was, which was good.”
