Harrington Opens with 74 in Mexico

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Pádraig Harrington signed for a three over par first round at the OHL Classic and settled  for a 74 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico - and off the pace.

Daniel Berger was making his sixth PGA TOUR start, and birdied 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7 and finished with two pars to match Will MacKenzie, Robert Garrigus, Steve Wheatcroft, Hudson Swafford and Tony Finau at 6-under 65 on Mayakoba's El Camaleon course.

"This is what we work so hard for, so it's great to get off to a good start, but got to keep it going," said Berger, the 21-year-old former Florida State player who earned a PGA TOUR card last season on the Web.com Tour.

The six-player tie is the largest after 18 holes since six players also topped the leaderboard in the 2013 St. Jude Classic.

The Greg Norman-designed course requires accuracy off the tee.

"I think I hit maybe two drivers all day," Berger said. "It's just kind of one of those courses where you've got to hit the fairway. Super tight off the tee, so just put it in play and you've got some birdie opportunities."

The long-hitting Finau hit driver only once.

"I'm still able to use my length by hitting 3-woods and 2-irons and moving it up the fairway still where most guys would have to hit driver," Finau said. "I definitely wasn't able to use my driver length, but I still use my length off the tee."

Fifty-year-old Davis Love III was at 66 in a group that included Aaron Baddeley, Charley Hoffman and Pat Perez.

"I made some putts when I had to," Love said. "I had four birdies in five holes in a little spurt in the middle of the round, and put the ball in play. I think that's what you have to do here. You have to keep it in the fairway and you have to putt well."

Defending champion Harris English closed with a three-putt bogey for a 67.

"It hurt on the last hole, three-putting, but I'm still going to take a lot of positives out of today," English said.

Carlos Ortiz topped the seven Mexican players in the field at 67. He won three times on the Web.com Tour last season.

"I started a little bit nervous with all the people who were watching, family, friends," Ortiz said. "But I had a very good beginning on the first hole with a birdie and then I birdied 3, 4, 5. It helped me a lot to get relaxed."

Canada's Nick Taylor, the Sanderson Farms Championship winner Sunday in Mississippi, had a 71.

Rory Suffers Double Ohio Trouble

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Rory McIlroy ended his second day in Dublin, Ohio, signing for a round of 78 at The Memorial Tournament after three consecutive double bogeys by the turn unraveled the advantage of his round of 63 on Thursday.

The BMW PGA Champions feel to earth somewhat having held a three-shot lead over Paul Casey,Bubba Watson and Chris Kirk at the start if the second round.

After starting on the back nine, McIlroy bogeyed the 10th round before parring 11 and picking the shot back up on 12. However then came off as double-bogeys followed on 13, 14 and 15 before two pars and a further bogey saw him reach the turn in 43, now four shots off the lead - a 12-shot swing.

Yesterday over the same stretch Rory picked up two eagles, three birdies and a double bogey to record a 31.

The run for home McIlroy completed in 35 strokes with just one dropped shot at the par 5 fifth hole to end the day 6 strokes over par. A total of 15 shots off his pace on Thursday but at -3 overall still only five off current leaders

Camilo Villegas was the big winner in the early stages, moving into a share of the lead with six birdies and a bogey in his first 14 holes.

Robert Garrigus was also surging up the leaderboard and he sat one shot off the lead with a flawless five birdies through 15.

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Padraig and Darren Valspar It

Padraig Harrington carved out a one under par second round to make the cut at the Vaslpar Championship at Innisbrook on Friday. Out early and starting on the front nine, he got off to the goof start and covered the opening nine holes in two under par. 

Three pars followed to start his back nine but he dropped his first shot of the day at the par three 13th hole. He hit back immediately with a birdie four on the next but suffered at the hands of the "snake pit" with dropped shots on the 16th and 17th holes. Needing a birdie on the last he hit a long drive followed by a approach shot to eleven feet which he holed for a pleasing finish under pressure. 

Robert Garrigus spent most of the practice days fishing in the lakes of Innisbrook, catching nearly three dozen bass. As for his day job, he bagged 10 birdies over two days and delivered the best score of the tournament, a 5-under 66 on Friday, to build a three-shot lead in the Valspar Championship.

His only other PGA TOUR victory was a little more than an hour away at Disney, and Garrigus offered a simple explanation.

"It's the fishing," he said.

Garrigus didn't play a single practice round the year he won Disney. He arrived at Innisbrook on Monday and fished that evening, most of Tuesday and then for about five hours Wednesday without ever looking at the Copperhead course.

"I think that puts me in a good frame of mind because I'm clear and not thinking about anything, just going out and having some fun," he said.

Garrigus, one of the longest hitters in golf, has made birdie on all of the par 5s both rounds. That has contributed mightily to being at 7-under 135, three shots clear of Kevin Na going into a weekend with a Masters spot potentially up for grabs.

Only five of the top 22 on the leaderboard already are eligible for the Masters.

Na had a 68, while the group four shots behind included Pat Perez (71), Matteo Manassero (70) and Justin Rose (68), who is the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 7. Matt Every shot a 71 in the afternoon and joined them at 3-under 139.

The three-shot lead is the largest through 36 holes in the 14-year history of this tournament. 

Garrigus is about the only player who has made it look easy, even though he felt as stressed as anyone on the Copperhead course, regarded by many as perhaps the best tournament course in Florida.

Even though the weather was close to perfect -- only a breeze in warm sunshine -- only 17 players broke 70.

John Daly was not among them. He was struggling with what he called the yips with his putter when he got to the 16th hole. Daly put three shots in the water, shanked a 7-iron, duffed a chip into the bunker and made a 12. With a double bogey on the last hole, he shot a 90, the highest score of his PGA TOUR career.

"I probably hit one of the top-five shots of my life there on 16 out of the trees," he said. "Hit a low, cut 5-iron, then rose it up over the pine tree and cut it 40 yards and hit to 10 feet. That's just one of those shots that when you're playing good and everything is rolling, you kind of expect it. It was a lot of fun to try it, and to pull it off was even better. I've spent half my life in the trees. I've had a lot of practice."

He missed the putt, but was more than happy with par.

As for the rest of the golf course, he picked up another birdie on the par-3 15th with a long putt, and one on the par-4 ninth with a 20-foot birdie down the hill.

Rose feels as if his shoulder injury is in the past, except for answering questions about it. He loves the Florida swing because the courses demand so many different shots, and Innisbrook might require the most.

The U.S. Open champion was struggling in the first round until he finished birdie-birdie to salvage a 71. He carried that momentum into the second round, and despite a bogey on No. 6 from being out of position off the tee, and a soft bogey on the par-3 eighth, he felt much better ending with a birdie.

"I got some momentum going today," Rose said. "I worked my way into the tournament early. To finish strong with my round yesterday I think helped give me some momentum into day. ... It's exactly how I needed to flow into the tournament."

Perez was the first player to reach 5 under for the tournament until he missed two drives well to the left. One was in the trees at No. 6, the other went out of bounds on No. 7. Both led to double bogeys, though Perez didn't get down on himself.

"Just move on and keep going," he said.

Darren Clarke made his first cut of 2014 on the PGA TOUR after he withdrew after one round at Riviera and missed the cut at The Honda Classic. 

Harrington Hits 73 at Wyndam

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Pádraig Harrington could only record a three-over-par 73 in his first round of the $5.3 million Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro in North Carolina.

The Dubliner is hoping for a good showing this weekend to boost his FedExCup play-off position. He currently sits 129th in the FedExCup standings, four places outside of the qualification places for the play-offs, which begin with The Barclays next week.

Chris Stroud’s late decision to play looked like a very good one after he grabbed an early one-shot lead in the opening round. The American journeyman’s long game was poor, by his own admission, but he putted brilliantly to post eight birdies in a six-under-par 64 on an unusually mild summer’s morning at Sedgefield Country Club.

The 31-year-old Stroud led by one stroke from fellow Americans Andrew Svoboda and Robert Garrigus, and Australian Matt Jones, with half the field back in the clubhouse.

“I didn’t play that great today (but) I’m in the lead. It’s a weird deal,” said Stroud, who is ranked 48th in the PGA Tour’s FedExCup points list heading into the play-offs, which start next week.

“It’s a crazy game. I only had one or two really good drives and four or five iron shots (but) kept myself in position and made a lot of good putts – not a bunch of 30-footers, just a lot from eight-to-20 feet.”

Stroud made his first start as a tour pro in Greensboro, on a sponsor’s invitation in 2004, and has been a regular visitor ever since, though he was planning to skip the event this year.

However, he missed the cut by one stroke at last week’s PGA Championship and then decided to enter Greensboro, where he has never finished better than 57th.

“I played pretty well in the PGA and I told my caddie I’m playing too well to go home and just sit and get rusty,” said Stroud, whose best PGA Tour finish was a playoff loss at the Travelers Championship in June.

“This is the nicest weather I’ve seen here, I’m happy to be here and it’s a great golf course that’s even better with new greens.”

Stroud acknowledged he would have to improve his overall game to have a chance of winning on Sunday, so he headed off to the practice range to work on his flaws.

Some of the bigger names in the field also had plenty to work on after struggling to go low in the opening round. Fijian Vijay Singh shot a 70 and South African Ernie Els carded a 71.

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