Padraig Harrington lamented his failure to cash in on "ideal" conditions during his opening round at the 110th US Open.
Irishman feels pressure of a major is leading to lack of low scores
Padraig Harrington was left to look back on a missed opportunity after signing for a 73 on the opening day of the 110th US Open.
The Irishman ended up on two over after a topsy-turvy first round at Pebble Beach that mixed in five bogeys and three birdies.
Having started out on the 10th, Harrington was one under during the early stages before slipping to four over with five dropped shots in seven holes.
The 38-year-old did bounce back with two late birdies but admitted afterwards that it could have been so much better, particularly in "ideal" conditions to shoot a low score.
Pretty simple
"Obviously I finished okay, so I don't feel so bad about it. But the course was there for the scoring today," he told
Sky Sports.
"It played pretty simple, to be honest. The greens were a little bit softer than we expected and the pin positions are reasonable. It was a day when you felt like you could shoot a good score.
"I started off lovely. During the first couple of holes I didn't have myself in any bother - I could have made birdie on any of them.
"Then it went away from me a bit. It was a bit of a struggle and I kind of had to stick in there.
"I could see I was trying too hard. I was just getting a little too uptight about the golf course and every time I went to hit it I was heavily focused on not hitting a bad shot, rather than letting it happen a little bit.
"I had to let go a little bit and relax, not worry about it too much. I got rewarded for that towards the last couple of holes."
Intimidated
Harrington wasn't the only player to fail to cash in, something he put down to the additional pressure of playing in a major.
"It's the old story of it being a US Open. We're all a little bit intimidated by it," he added. "If this was a regular tournament then the scoring would be better, particularly in today's conditions.
"They were ideal, with not too much wind. I just think everyone gets a bit defensive. Later on in the week that might be the case, but today the scoring was there.
"I certainly felt like someone was going to shoot four or five under today."
