Harrington’s 64 lights up the Barclays
Irishman Harrington covered his final nine holes in a six-under-par 29 to card a seven-under 64 in the first of the PGA Tour’s four lucrative FedExCup playoff events.
Harrington piled up eight birdies and a lone bogey to finish a stroke in front of Americans Nick Watney and Brian Harman.
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Hide AdSpaniard Sergio Garcia, who ended a four-year title drought on the PGA Tour by winning the rain-delayed Wyndham Championship on Monday, opened with a 66, while Woods returned a 68 and McIlroy a 69.
Harrington, who also has one eye this week on earning a spot on the European Ryder Cup team, was delighted with his putting on the challenging, 7,468-yard Bethpage Black layout.
“This is the best I’ve putted, the best I’ve struck my putts, the best I’ve rolled the ball for a long period of time,” the 40-year-old Irishman said after taking only 26 putts.
Harrington conceded he had learned a lesson about the possibilities at a venue which has staged two US Opens from his American playing partner Troy Matteson, who eagled the fourth hole.
“Imagine making an eagle at a US Open,” said Harrington. “If anything, it really helped me because I could see that, ‘Hey, this wasn’t a US Open, there were birdies to be made.’
“So you have to get out of that mindset because level par isn’t winning the tournament this week,” added the Irishman.