Harrington suffers from self-guilt

They stand first and second in the order of merit, fighting to be the best in Europe for the the 2002 season, but you would have been hard pressed to believe it yesterday.

Retief Goosen, the current No1, had a two-over-par 73, Padraig Harrington, his challenger, a 74, and after the first round of the Volvo Masters Andalucia the two of them are well down a field headed by Angel Cabrera.

The Argentinian produced one of the season's great rounds, an eight-under-par 63, to lead by no fewer than four shots from the Welshman Phillip Price and by five from a group of five players.

Under normal circumstances Harrington and Goosen, who were paired together, would now be struggling to survive to the weekend. But there is no halfway cut in this event and with 54 holes remaining there is plenty of time either for Harrington to make up the £14,538 by which he trails Goosen, or for the latter to establish a wider margin. Of course the South African needs only to finish ahead of Harrington to win the order for the second successive year.

Naturally neither man was happy with the way he had played. Goosen, when asked if he had a minute to talk, said, "No. Going to the practice range," and stomped off. Harrington dealt with the situation entirely differently. He had suffered one of the more unusual penalties in golf, when he was penalised for repairing a pitch mark that was not on the putting surface, but the Irishman was prepared to talk it through.

It happened on the first hole, it turned a par four into a double-bogey six and was just about the worst possible start for a man who knows that he has to play his best golf this week to overtake a formidable opponent.

"The ball was in the shade," said Harrington afterwards, "and I just walked up and fixed the pitch mark because it looked like it was on the green. But as I was digging up the grass it seemed that there was more of it than usual and a bell went off in my head and I thought, 'Oops, this isn't good.'

"Nobody saw it but I knew the rule, so I called in an official and he confirmed it was a two-shot penalty. Obviously it was not the start I wanted. And I'm not that good that I can give two shots to the field."

Harrington has a penchant for the unusual in tournament golf. Two years ago, in the Benson & Hedges Classic at the Belfry, he had established a five-stroke lead going into the final round when it was discovered that he had failed to sign his first-round card. He was disqualified retrospectively, a decision that probably cost him £166,666, the size of the cheque for first prize.

Later in yesterday's round Harrington had a seven at that bizarre mixture of golf and goofiness that makes up the long 17th hole. Many of the players consider that all it requires are a few windmills and flashing lights to make it a perfect replica of a seaside crazy-golf hole.

Harrington, even after his double bogey, begged to differ, however. "It's exactly what you need at that stage in a round of golf, something very intimidating. You're just not sure what is going to happen."

What happened to Harrington was that he drew his second shot rather more than he intended, it went in the lake in front of the green and, in ensuring that he landed his fourth on to the putting surface, he hit it too hard and it went through the back of the green. He did well to get down in two more from there.

Cabrera used his "Bull of the Pampas" physique to play the hole rather better. Having hit his drive 343 yards, he sent a seven-iron a further 193 yards and two-putted for a ridiculously easy birdie. "It was a fantastic round," he said. "One you dream of playing when you go and play a tournament."

Golf, for some, is the simplest of games.