Champion battles through British Open test

(CNN) -- Padraig Harrington carded a battling four-over-par 74 in difficult conditions at rain-hit Royal Birkdale on Thursday following fears he would have to pull out of his British Open title defense due to a wrist injury.

The Irishman dropped a shot at the first hole after hitting the rough with his opening tee shot, and was within a shot of the leading group halfway through his round at one over.

However, the Ryder Cup star bogeyed the par-four 11th, and the 17th and 18th holes as well, to match the totals shot by 58-year-old five-time champion Tom Watson and British hope Justin Rose.

At that stage there were only two players under par on the Southport links course in north-west England, which was lashed by wind and rain.

The early leading clubhouse score was set by South Africa's Retief Goosen, who shot a 71 which featured dropped shots at 15, 16 and 18 and a double-bogey on the front nine.

He was later joined by Canada's Mike Weir, who eagled the par-five 17th hole.

K.J. Choi and Englishman Ian Poulter were the next best of the early finishers on 72.

World No. 2 Phil Mickelson finished on nine-over 79, while former top-ranked players Vijay Singh and Ernie Els were a shot worse off after miserable rounds.

Fiji's Singh double-bogeyed his first hole and dropped successive shots from the fifth to the 11th, and also bogeyed 13.

South Africa's Els, rusty after a lack of recent action, suffered double-bogeys at 14 and 16 and also dropped a shot at his last hole.

Harrington had rated himself only a 50-50 chance to start the third major tournament of the season after injuring his right wrist on Saturday, but took his place at the tee at 0700 GMT.

The 36-year-old took a three-iron, but still sliced his opening shot into the right-hand rough -- an area he had been avoiding playing out of in his practice rounds in order to protect his wrist -- and ended up taking a five for the par-four, 450-yard hole.

However, he steadied himself with a par at the par-four, 421-yard second hole despite again hitting the rough and needing to sink a 30-foot putt to avoiding going two over.

"I'm happy to have played. I battled well through the first 16 holes and thought the hard work was done," Harrington said.

"With the last two holes being downwind it was a poor finish to end with two bogeys. I didn't have any problems with the wrist on the course but felt a few twinges of pain warming up. But I've got another day to rest and I'm quite happy. I've not played myself out of the tournament."

Australian veteran Craig Parry opened the event one and a half hours before Harrington began his round, but slumped to a seven-over 77.

"It was an honor to hit the first tee shot," he said. "But after that, it got really hard."

While Watson had a relatively good day after starting with a birdie, another former winner Sandy Lyle had a miserable experience in the difficult conditions.

The 50-year-old Scotsman, who won the Open at Royal St. George's in 1985, pulled out after playing the first 10 holes in an 11-over 49.

"I felt I could do myself more harm than good," said Lyle, who plays his first Senior Open tournament at Troon next week. "It could take three weeks for recover from this."

Heath Slocum had been standing by to replace Harrington if he had become the first Open champion not to defend his title since Ben Hogan in 1954.

However, the American did get his chance to take his place in the 156-player field when Japan's Toru Taniguchi pulled out with a back injury shortly before he was due to tee off.

Hogan only played in The Open once, winning at Carnoustie -- as Harrington did last year -- and then not taking part at Birkdale 12 months later.

Harrington cut short his second practice round on the eve of the tournament, managing only three full swings before his wrist problems flared up again.

He walked the rest of the course, limiting himself to chipping and putting, the only things he felt comfortable enough to risk.

Harrington's triumph last year was his first major title. He memorably hit two balls into Carnoustie's Barry Burn on the 72nd hole but still managed to beat Garcia in a playoff.

Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.