Harrington hones in on home win

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Trees were blown down as winds gusted to 45mph but Harrington carded five birdies and one bogey to take a one-shot lead over England's Simon Wakefield, Swede Joakim Backstrom and Argentina's Andres Romero on a day when only two players broke 70.

But the world number 12 knows the pressure will be on as an expectant home crowd looks to him to justify his status as the pre-tournament favourite. "I think I will treat it as any other round of golf. I'm not going out there thinking 'I'm in the last group in the Irish Open'," said Harrington, last year's European number one.

The 35-year-old Dubliner, looking to become the first Irish winner since John O'Leary in 1982, admits winning his national open is second in importance only to the four major championships.

He added: "I'm going to go out there thinking I'm playing golf to the best of my ability and that's it.

"How I approach it will be the same as any other round of golf, whether I was at the top or the bottom of the order.

"There is no point in adding extra pressure with it being the Irish Open. It's not my job to build it up. I'm going to play it down in my own head.

"It means a lot to me so I'll be out there tomorrow (Saturday) and the next day in a very important situation but I'll be absolutely trying to control my emotions and all that sort of stuff so I feel comfortable on the golf course.

"I want to win this very badly, there's no question about that, but it would be a great achievement if I could go out over the next two days knowing that, and yet play and behave like it's a regular event and a normal day out."