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By T.J. Auclair
PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer

ATLANTA -- Ireland's Padraig Harrington was at 3 under par for the day and preparing to hit his approach from the fairway on the 13th hole at East Lake Golf Club during the first round of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola on Thursday.

Padraig Harrington regrouped during the rain delay and birdied his final four holes on Thursday. (Streeter Lecka/WireImage)

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

PADRAIG HARRINGTON IN 2007

Category Total Rank Driving Distance 293.8 yds. 56 Driving Accuracy 58.16% 156 Greens in Regulation 59.48% 181 Putts Per Round 28.31 7 Sand Saves 45.79% 135 Scoring Average 69.81 12 FedExCup Points 94,841 30 Money Leaders $2,490,983 20

• Padraig Harrington's Player Page

And that's when the horn blew. The Atlanta area has suffered through an awful drought throughout the summer months, but that came to an abrupt end as torrential downpours dropped buckets of rain on East Lake, causing a delay that lasted just over three hours.

"The rain delay was probably good for me," said Harrington, who won his first major in July's Open Championship at Carnoustie. "I kind of got a little bit frustrated through the front nine. I felt I hit good shots down pins and missed a couple of putts and this, that and the other and thought it could be a little bit better. I made two good birdies at 10 and 11 with 5 irons. But still, it just wasn't 100 percent, and it was probably good for me to go off the golf course and regroup."

Regroup, or, get ready to quarterback a late charge like his cousin Joey Harrington -- starting quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons -- might. That's exactly what Harrington did in the finale of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

Taking advantage of softening conditions after a little over a half-inch of rain fell, Harrington birdied his final four holes -- all on putts inside of 15 feet -- to post an opening 7-under-par 63. That was one shot off the clubhouse lead held by South Africa's Tim Clark. Only 10 players in the 30-man field finished the first round, which was suspended due to darkness at 7:09 p.m.

"The golf course is set up for scoring in terms of you've got soft greens, the greens are at a pace that you can really be aggressive on them and run the ball at the hole," he said. "So yeah, I would think it's a good week for scoring."

Much was made of the condition of the East Lake greens coming into this week. The brutal drought severely damaged the bentgrass putting surfaces, causing the PGA TOUR to put restrictions on practice rounds. However, a break in the heat at the beginning of the week resulted in a much-needed reprieve for the greens. Thanks to that, Harrington said the greens were just fine.

"The greens are great. First out in the morning, as I said, they're at a pace that you can be really aggressive on. You feel you can run putts in. They putted very well, fair to say all day," he said. "Granted, I'm the first person out, I'm not the last person out, so they were in perfect condition for us. I will experience greens like this at least twice a year. "They're kind of like what we get at home in the springtime, the greens are just coming out in the spring or winter months. I'm pretty familiar with them, especially at this pace. If they were hard and fast and they were like that, it would be real tough. It would be a nightmare. But as they're soft and a reasonable pace, they're fine to putt on."

Because of Harrington's hectic schedule since winning the Open Championship, he decided to skip last week's BMW Championship and stay home in Ireland for some rest. With that decision, Harrington risked missing out on a spot here in Atlanta. Call it luck of the Irish, because when only three players played their way into the top 30 -- Stewart Cink, Camilo Villegas and Clark -- the Irishman snuck in as the last man in the field at No. 30.

"I would have loved to have played the BMW Championship, but it seems like I made the right decision now," he said. "I'm still playing catch-up. I haven't really quite got back -- I don't think probably until the wintertime will I get some serious break. I won't get a couple weeks in a row off."

The reason for that is Harrington has a slim lead in the European Tour's Order of Merit, which he won in 2006. Figuratively speaking, Harrington can't afford to miss a week if he's to successfully defend his Order of Merit title.

"I don't have the cushion," he said. "There's three big events left, really, in Europe, three big -- I would say the winner of the Order of Merit is going to win one of those three. I'm leading, but it would be a question of going into one of those three events and winning it because one of the guys in the top five is going to win one of those three events, so I've got to make sure I do it, too."

While Harrington is mathematically eliminated from winning the $10 million bonus for taking the inaugural FedExCup, he felt that the trip to Atlanta this week was more important than taking another week off at home in Ireland.

"The fact that I couldn't win the FedExCup was obviously one of the reasons that might have kept me away," he admitted. "But the fact that it's a big tournament anyway was a big reason to come. I do like it here. It's really convenient to get to from Ireland, a direct flight. Yeah, there certainly was a thought of it, but I think probably, likely, no, I was going to come."

So where is he storing that coveted Claret Jug?

"It sits on the breakfast table at home," he laughed. "It's perfect for coming down every morning. The first thing you do when you open the kitchen door is see it sitting there. So it's there."