You'd suspect Padraig Harrington would have a smile on his face, even if his world was falling apart.

Yesterday, for a time in the first round of the US PGA, it seemed that was exactly what was happening.

But, as he observed after opening with a four-under-par 68 that sets him up nicely for a go at what the PGA of America call "glory's last chance" in the final major of the season, "I've been getting to breaking point before turning it around."

That observation was based on a topsy-turvy start yesterday. Ironically, in his final practice round on Wednesday, Harrington had five birdies in seven holes from the 10th.

Yesterday, when it mattered, he had a disastrous start that included an opening bogey, another bogey on the 13th and a double-bogey on the 16th, with a couple of birdies sandwiched in between.

So, two-over after six holes, the scenario was set for a day of hanging on. Harrington, though, did better than that. Not only did he cover the remaining 12 holes without suffering another dropped shot, he also rolled in six birdie putts, including a hat-trick to finish on some of the course's toughest holes.

On the ninth, his 18th, he rolled in a 45-footer that had the galleries in the bleachers going berserk. No wonder he could afford to smile!

Of what he politely called a "slow start", Harrington quipped that maybe he should change his pre-round routine.

Rather than hitting the range, he suggested, "it seems to take a few holes for me to get into game mould . . . maybe I should play a few holes on the (adjacent) Irish Course before I start."

It's unlikely such self-deprecation would have occurred as he pondered his fate six holes into his round, when it felt like the birdies of the previous day "were like knives in my back". To his credit, he did turn things around.

"I don't know, I seem to be doing a bit of everything," added Harrington. "I'm playing really good golf and then losing track of myself at other times.

"A 68? I'd have taken it going out. It keeps me in there, ticking along. It was a big bonus to finish the way that I did."

Harrington had given himself birdie chances on the previous five holes, without converting any of them, before making his way to the seventh tee.

"I was a bit disappointed at that stage. I'd had great chances and hadn't taken any," he remarked. So, when he hit a four-iron on the 221-yard par three seventh to six feet, he wasn't particularly relishing the putt.

But golf can be a fickle bedfellow and the double-breaking putt rolled in.

On the eighth, he hit a two-iron approach to two feet and rolled in the putt and, finally, on the ninth, Harrington hit a huge drive down to the bottleneck in the fairway. Rather than hit wedge off the downslope, he opted for sandwedge and watched in disappointment as the ball spun back and finished 45 feet from the hole.

As if to confirm that his fortunes had changed, the birdie putt never looked like finishing anywhere other than in the cup.

"I haven't been starting well in tournaments. It's not as if I need a kick or anything, but that's what happened today," said Harrington.

"You want to start nicely in any tournament, not just in a major. At least this 68 means it is not all doom and gloom."