• Travelers Championship, Day One

Rose and Harrington make early charge

Justin Rose made a great start at the © Getty Images

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Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose grabbed a share of the lead at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut as the cream of European golf continued to flex its muscles on American soil.

With only five of the world's top 30 at River Highlands, the pair made a great start as they seek to capitalise and earn valuable ranking points. Harrington, aiming to win his first PGA Tour event since the PGA Championship in 2008, fired seven birdies and one bogey as he took advantage of friendly scoring conditions in the morning to post a first-round 64 and set the lead at six-under-par.

"It's a different change of pace to the US Open greens here which is nice and now that I'm leading the tournament, it's back to the old grind again," Harrington said. "If you hit it close here, you're confident you can get some putts in a row and you're not weary of leaving yourself two or three-footers so it's nice."

A victory for a British player would be the fourth in a row after Graeme McDowell followed wins for Rose and Lee Westwood by winning the US Open at Pebble Beach, and Rose kept the flag flying as he sunk five straight birdies on the back nine to join Harrington at the top.

Australia's Matthew Goggin and South Korea's Charlie Wi join the Ryder Cup duo at the summit, while the American quartet of Bubba Watson, Kevin Sutherland, Ben Curtis and USA Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin were all a shot in arrears after each posting 65 to finish on five-under-par. Three-time major champion Vijay Singh enjoyed a much-needed return to form with the putter as he also finished on the same total.

Swedish pair Carl Petterson and Mathias Gronberg signed for three-under-par rounds of 67, with Australia's Adam Scott, Rod Pampling and Michael Sim and South Africa's Retief Goosen all posting 68s, to finish the first day four shots off the pace.

Scotland's Martin Laird and Brian Davis made tidy starts as they both posted one-under rounds of 69 to sit five shots off the lead. Defending champion Kenny Perry, who shot a course-record-equalling 61 12 months ago, is also one-under after mixing three birdies with two bogeys.

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