After losing his head, Howley stays cool

An unflappable Francis Howley outdid the South African PGA Championship's star attraction, Greg Norman, the world number two, yesterday in Johannesburg.

And the genial Milltown professional did it without one of his favourite clubs after a bizarre start to his round at Houghton, before Johannesburg had really woken up and well before it was rocked by a thunderstorm which lasted all afternoon to cause chaos to the opening day.

At 6.40 a.m., Howley hit his first tee shot - and watched aghast as the head of his two-iron went spinning off into the rough.

That completely threw his plan for the day out of the window and, at first, affected him badly, causing him an early double-bogey.

But the determined Howley eventually settled down to a fine inward half which earned him a one-under-par 71, only four shots off the lead held by Welshman Paul Affleck. Howley's cool, as he juggled between three-irons and three-woods on the seven holes he had planned to hit two-irons off the tee, earned him a return one better than a rather subdued Norman and matched that of the defending champion at Houghton, the world number four, Nick Price.

Perhaps with the benefit of his two-iron, Howley may have been much closer to the surprise frontrunner Affleck, who finished another lightning-disrupted day in Johannesburg one shot ahead of the field, more than half of which did not finish their rounds.

Said Howley: "It was quite a shock when my ball went only 180 yards and the head went flying. It felt as if I was using a fishing-rod. I was forced to improvise my whole game-plan, because I'd planned on using my two-iron on a lot of holes.

"I managed to find the head - and it was lucky we weren't playing over water - so I can get a new shaft fitted for the second round. But I knew it was going to be a struggle, because I knew for the rest of the day I'd have to either hit a three-iron too hard or a three-wood too soft.

"It wasn't just that problem, though. It was all the rush as well. We could only hit a few balls on the range before teeing off because it was so early. Then, because of my problems, we lost ground and we were always rushing to try to catch the lads up ahead. I was worried every time I saw an official in case I got a time penalty like Raymie Burns a couple of weeks' ago. It wasn't until we did finally catch up the group in front on the back nine that I settled down and found some rhythm," Howley said.

With the afternoon wiped out by the storms, favourite Ernie Els only managed one hole, to par, and Eamonn Darcy, with his injured ankle strapped up, just one hole and two shots and a putt on his second. He has a 12-inch putt to return to this morning to save par, and then the prospect of 34 holes in one day on the ankle he sprained on Tuesday.

Raymond Burns, who played with a support set in his shoe to relieve the tendinitis in an Achilles heel, shot 74 gamely, his spirits lifted by being able to frequently chat to Jack Nicklaus on his way round. Nicklaus, on a business trip to South Africa, took time off to watch his son Gary, who played with Burns. The young Nicklaus trailed his injured playing partner by two strokes.