Harrington surges three ahead with 63 at Riviera

PACIFIC PALISADES, California, Feb 16 (Reuters) Padraig Harrington, boosted by a red-hot putter, charged into a three-shot lead with a sparkling eight-under-par 63 in the Nissan Open first round today.

The Irish world number 10, playing his first tournament at Riviera Country Club, reeled off 10 birdies and two bogeys to card his lowest score on the PGA Tour.

''I'm exceptionally pleased shooting 63,'' Harrington told reporters yesterday after making the most of near-perfect conditions in the morning.

''I played nicely, holed the putts and got the breaks, pretty much everything you need to do to shoot 63, really.

''Whenever I did miss a shot today, it seemed to be okay,'' added the Irishman, who needed only 26 putts in his round.

''It's a tight golf course with a lot of difficult pin positions and I will make mistakes between now and the end of the week.'' Masters champion Phil Mickelson, hot favourite this week after cruising to a five-shot victory at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday, shot a bogey-free 66 to lie joint second with fellow Americans Briny Baird and Pat Perez.

HARRINGTON APPLAUDED Although delighted with his own performance, Mickelson applauded Harrington's 10-birdie display on one of the most challenging of the classic US courses.

''It is a little humbling to shoot what I thought was a good round and then get lapped by three,'' Mickelson said. ''That was an incredible round that he played. The greens were firm and a lot of the pins were tough to get at.'' World number two Jim Furyk returned a five-birdie 67, a score that was matched by Spaniard Sergio Garcia, Britain's David Howell and Americans Cameron Beckman and Kevin Stadler.

Of the other big names, three-times major winner Vijay Singh and US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy opened with 68s while Ernie Els, who won at Riviera in 1999, carded a 69.

Six players were still out on the course when play was suspended for the day in fading light, Ireland's Paul McGinley the best of them at two under with two holes to play.

Harrington, who tied for 30th at Pebble Beach last week in his first PGA Tour start of the year, made a fast start in dazzling sunshine at Riviera.

NARROW MISS He birdied four of the first five holes, narrowly missing an eagle putt at the first, before bogeying the par-four eighth, where he missed the green to the right with his approach.

Out in three-under 32, he picked up shots at the next four holes, twice rolling in 15-footers.

Feeling as though he could make just about any putt, he charged a long-range attempt at the par-three 14th four feet past the cup and failed to sink the return.

''That settled me down a bit after thinking I was invincible,'' the Irishman said.

Two further birdies, at the 15th and 16th, took him to eight under before he parred the last two holes.

Asked how he had bucked the trend of first-timers generally struggling at Riviera, Harrington replied: ''It's just the nature of the game, the rules are always going to be broken at some stage.

''But there is a long way to go. At some stage of the week, it's going to catch up with me. There are a lot of pitfalls on this golf course.'' Eight of the game's top 10 players, and 15 of the leading 20, are competing this week in the strongest field assembled anywhere so far this year.

REUTERS SAM DS1046