Padraig Harrington carded a very solid three-under par 69 to place near the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the Masters on a beautiful day for golf at Augusta National.
 
The 37-year-old, playing with 2003 Masters Champion Mike Weir and Japan's Ryuji Imada, has put himself in an excellent position after Day 1. With conditions condusive for good scoring, Harrington rattled off five birdies and made two bogies during his round.
 
Harrington went out in 35, bagging a birdie on the par 5 second, and giving up a shot at the par 3 6th before another birdie at the par 5 8th got him back into minus figures.
 
The Dubliner caught on fire at the turn, going through Amen Corner two-under-par by scoring par-birdie-birdie at the famous 11th, 12th and 13th holes.
 
The triple major winner’s momentum lagged with a bogey at the par 5  630-yard 15th to leave him at two-under-par. However, a par on 16 was followed by a birdie on 17 to bring him back to three-under-par, and he finished the 18th in regulation to end up with a first round score of 69.