HAMBURG, Germany, May 15 (UPI) -- Retief Goosen and Padraig Harrington, first and second on the European Order of Merit for the past two seasons, shared the lead Thursday after the opening round of the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open.
Tiger Woods, chasing a third successive victory in the event and being paid a reported $2 million to appear, began with a bogey-free 3-under-par 69. Goosen and Harrington shot 65s.
Harrington was paired with Woods and although the world No. 1 watched a wonderful putting display, the Dubliner admitted it had nothing to do with his ability to read greens.
"It got to the stage that I didn't even bother reading them," Harrington said. "It didn't make a huge difference whether I read them well or read them badly, hit them well or hit them badly. They were still going to go in. Golf's a strange game."
"Paddy putted beautifully," Woods said. "He made two long bombs and everything else he needed to make."
Harrington achieved his score despite "really struggling off the tee, big-time."
"I hardly hit a fairway and my confidence was very low," he said, "but I played to my strengths. I did all the work with the wedges and putter."
The bizarre thing about his performance was that it came only four days after he could not sink a thing in the final round of the Benson and Hedges International Open on the far superior greens of The Belfry.
Harrington ended up with the 19th runner-up finish of his career in that tournament, but now has his sights firmly set on his eighth win.
His last success came in December, when he beat Woods to the $1 million prize at the Target World Challenge in California. Woods has not been blind to the dramatic improvement in the Irishman's game over the last couple of seasons.
"I think he's more consistent than he used to be," Woods said. "His bad shots aren't as bad as they used to be. He's made a good job of that."
With a swirling wind and greens that were attacked over the winter by a disease known as Fusarium patch, Woods said he would have been content with anything under par.
Goosen raced to the turn in 31, then added birdies at the 12th and 15th before scrambling a closing par. He hooked his drive into a marshy area and felt lucky to find it, but hit a 7-iron just short of the green and chipped to within three feet.
Having become a father for the first time in March, the South African has played only five Order of Merit events so far.
"But there are a lot of big-money events to come and I definitely want to give myself a chance of winning it again," he said. "You always want to try and defend any title and the Order of Merit is the toughest one."
Darren Clarke shot a 67 to match Peter Lawrie, who lost out in a playoff at the Spanish Open three weeks ago.
Clarke received a putting lesson on the eve of the event from Lee Westwood, whose own troubles continued with a 76 on the course where he won in 1998 and 2000.
With putting not the nightmare many feared, there were plenty of other good scores.
Colin Montgomerie, beaten in a playoff by Woods in Heidelberg last year, also carded a 69, while last week's winner, Paul Casey, and Nick Faldo were among those to finish 2-under, as did Scot Raymond Russell, who aced the 184-yard 14th.
However, Ryder Cup Welshman Phillip Price retired after 14 holes because he felt ill. He was 3-over at the time.
