Harrington gets game going but thinks little of it

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Padraig Harrington won't look at his first-round 64 any differently than he would look at a 74.

AKRON, Ohio -- Padraig Harrington took the 64 he shot Thursday in the first round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational in stride.

Yes, it was his low round of the year and gave him a two-stroke lead in an event that has brought together 49 of the top 50 players in the world. It was his lowest score ever at Firestone Country Club, too.

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Leaderboard: Round 1
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Scorecard: Padraig Harrington
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Daily Wrap-up: Round 1

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But it was just a round of golf. No more. No less.

"(It) has no relevance in the overall scheme of things," Harrington said, shaking his head firmly. "I wouldn't put too much significance into it because what if I went out there and shot 76? Would I feel that or let it affect tomorrow?"

Harrington knows he can't afford to get too emotionally invested in any one round -- good or bad. He is the same man who shot 73 in his last competitive round at the Open Championship two weeks ago and tied for 65th. But he's also the same man who won the last two majors of the 2008 season and was voted the PGA TOUR Player of the Year.

"It's foolish to get too much of a high about anything, and it's foolish to get in too much of a low about anything because then your scores and how things are happening on the course are ... dictating how you feel about yourself, whereas you should dictate how you feel about yourself to change your results," Harrington said.

"I believe in self confidence rather than confidence."

Harrington is gaining considerably in the self-made variety as the swing changes he embarked upon after winning the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills have assimilated into his game. He's not searching anymore.

Now the inveterate Irish range rat can focus on fine-tuning his short game and dialing in his approach shots to produce more scores like that round of 6 under, which he admitted was his best since he left Oakland Hills with the Wannamaker Trophy.

"So I'm happy to have shot it, I feel good about it, but I don't believe I'm going to use it as a cutoff for the last six months to the next six months," Harrington said. "Maybe it is, but I believe that change was made maybe three or four weeks ago when I started focusing more on my playing side of my game rather than the swinging side of my game."

Harrington didn't drop a shot on Thursday. He made a 9-footer for birdie on his first hole, which was the 10th, and added an 11-footer at the par-5 16th. A 12-footer at No. 1 was followed by a two-putt from 38 feet on the second while birdie putts of 26 and 23 feet at Nos. 7 and 8 propelled him into sole possession of the lead.

"A lot of my rounds this year, I haven't holed those putts, and if I did hole them, it wouldn't have mattered anyway," Harrington said. "Today, I was going nicely, 4 under par, probably what I deserved at that stage. But to make those two birdies coming home, two good putts, three good putts in a row was a big bonus."

Truth be told, though, a par save at the 13th hole may have made the difference for Harrington on Thursday. He missed the green to the right and then chipped to 5 feet to keep himself in red numbers.

"I felt like I was going forward from there, felt like I was looking to make birdies on every hole," Harrington said. "If I hadn't have got up and down there, I might have gotten back in the track I've been on the last six months of being very defensive and always very cautious about missing greens because I wasn't getting up and down.

"So that was probably the most important thing I did all day."

Harrington hasn't been making par saves like that this year, though. The confidence he gained there -- self-confidence, that is -- set the tone for the rest of his round.

"I've seen many players start off, get a couple good breaks in the first couple of holes and play well for 72 holes," Harrington said. "And vice versa, I've seen many players miss the cut after two or three shots. If we were all very professional, it wouldn't make a difference.

"But certainly for me when you come off a bad period, it is important that you get some momentum early in the tournament and you get a couple of good things going for you. You feel better about your game."

The best part about Thursday was that Harrington was thinking positively as he was putting the finishing touches on a closing 31. He wanted to take his score lower. He wasn't waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop.

"It's not like what I've been thinking about like I don't want to mess up sort of thing," Harrington said. "... I'm a great believer in if you want to win tournaments, you've got to have that feeling as often as possible and get used to it. I obviously haven't been in a situation the last six months that has made a big difference whether I make bogey or par coming down the stretch.

"... That's the sort of experience you want when you're trying to win tournaments. You've got to be there all the time in order to win any tournaments and especially going into majors."

Like the one he will defend at Hazeltine National next week.