Padraig Harrington carded an opening round 68 to sit four strokes off the early pace-setters after the opening round of the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld.
Despite a double bogey blotting his card, the Dubliner strung together a fine round that contained six birdies in all.
He got off to a nice start with an opening birdie after sticking his approach inside 10 feet and while he would give that shot back after leaking right at the fourth, back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh saw him out in 33.
His back nine started in cruel fashion with that double though, Harrington somehow conspiring to three-putt from just over four foot.
The response was good with three birdies over his next five holes before a dropped shot at 17. He made amends at the par-five last though to round off a solid day’s work.
The lead is jointly held by England's Harry Hall, Germany's Jeremy Paul and Norway's Kris Ventura, all of whom recorded seven-under par rounds of 64 on Thursday.
A group of five players – South Africa's Aldrich Potgieter, Argentina’s Alejandro Tosti and American trio Isaia Salinda, Brian Campbell and Patrick Fishburn – are a shot off the pace.
Former Open champion Francesco Molinari is among a large group of players on five-under-par despite opening with a double bogey six.
The Italian rallied with four birdies before the turn, adding an eagle at his 16th hole and a birdie at the last.
New Zealand's Ryan Fox holed a putt of more than 91 feet for a birdie on his 14th hole to join Harrington with an opening 68, one behind England’s Aaron Rai, who is the highest-ranked player in the field.
