Harrington makes strong start in bid to become oldest DP World Tour winner

Pádraig Harrington got off to a great start in his bid to become the oldest winner of a DP World Tour-sanctioned event when he used all his short-game skills to open with a four-under 68 in the Ras Al Khaimah Championship in the United Arab Emirates.

Making his 489th appearance on the DP World Tour in his 30th full season, the Dubliner (53) was tied for fifth place, just five strokes behind England's Marcus Armitage, when play was suspended overnight due to darkness.

Harrington started with three scrambling pars at Al Hamra, where he has collaborated on course changes, then birdied the 14th, 15th and 16th to turn in 33 before moving to five-under with birdies at the third and fifth.

While he dropped a shot at the sixth, he made a 10-footer for par at the 602-yard eighth and a four-footer for another par at the ninth.

Armitage posted his lowest round for over two years, making ten birdies in a nine-under 63 to lead by four strokes from compatriot Jack Senior, Sweden's Alexander Bjork and Spain's Ivan Cantero.

"The putter was on fire," Armitage said after holing 190 feet of putts in the first group of the day. "I don't even know how many putts I had, but everything I looked at, I was thinking about holing. 

"I was just in the zone, if that's what you want to call it— one of those days."

Portmarnock's Conor Purcell was joint 46th after making two birdies and two bogeys in a 72. But it was a tough day for LIV-bound Tom McKibbin, who was punished for his errors and made two birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey in a 76 that left him four shots outside the projected cut mark heading into round two.

On the former Challenge Tour, renamed the HotelPlanner Tour, Galway's Liam Nolan (24) made an immaculate start to 2025, carding a three-under 69 to share 15th place in the season-opening SDC Open at Zebula Golf Estate & Spa in Limpopo.

While he has an Alps Tour card and will rely on invitations for regular starts on Europe's second-tier tour, Nolan carded one of just six bogey-free rounds to lie three strokes behind local Altin Van Der Merwe.

The South African carded a 66 to head the field by one stroke as Royal Dublin's Max Kennedy battled back from two over after four holes to one-under with two to play, only to double bogey the short 17th and shoot a 73 that left him tied for 94th.

Meanwhile, 2027 promises to be an exciting year for golf after the R&A confirmed that the Old Course at St Andrews will host The 155th Open from 11-18 July 2027.

This means the majors will be played at Augusta National, Pebble Beach, St Andrews and Frisco in 2027 when Adare Manor hosts the Ryder Cup.

The 155th Open will mark 100 years since amateur Bobby Jones triumphed in The Open at St Andrews in 1927. His six-shot margin of victory saw him successfully defend the title he won at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

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