Jones leads the Irish challenge

Ageing bones were subjected to cruelly hostile weather before a calm afternoon offered welcome respite in the opening round of the £100,000 South of Ireland Seniors Championship at East Clare yesterday. In these circumstances, it was perhaps predictable that the leaders on 67, John Morgan and Terry Gale, should have been among the late starters.

But there was suffering of a different sort for one of the pre-tournament favourites. Eddie Polland damaged his right wrist while losing a play-off for the British Seniors at Royal Portrush last Sunday and when the injury flared up again yesterday morning, he was forced to withdraw.

Despite the absence of Polland, the Irish challenge is in fine shape. David Jones had an admirable, three-under-par 68 and there were rounds of 70 from Liam Higgins and Paul Leonard, while Gerry Egan and Arthur Spring are a stroke further back.

Christy O'Connor Snr set off at 9.45 in the worst of the weather. A miserable start of three successive bogeys and a double-bogey at the ninth, where he hit his second into water, brought him to the turn in 38 - three over par. But he proceeded to shoot his age by covering the back nine in one-under, with a two-putt birdie at the long 16th, which he reached in two.

"It was a treat to watch him - amazing," said South African Bobby Verwey, one of his playing partners. "For a man of 73, that was incredible golf. Is there a better player in the world at his age?"

The key figures on Higgins's card were threes at the fifth and 14th. The first of these was an eagle three (534 yards) and the second delivered his only birdie of the back nine.

Gale also eagled the fifth, reducing it to a drive, four-wood and a 20-foot putt. Winner of the PGA Seniors at The Belfry two years ago, the Australian might feel that he is due a win here, having lost a play-off to Joe McDermott for the Irish Senior Open last May.

Winner of successive PGA Seniors Championships in 1994 and 1995, Morgan made a rewarding raid on the US tour, winning $349,302 last season. In the event, yesterday's round included five birdies, including three on the homeward journey where he sank putts of 20 feet at the 11th and 13th and another from 10 feet at the long 16th.

Jones, who has won £39,507 in 10 seniors events so far this year, was reaping the reward of solid work in the build-up to last weekend's Senior British Open. "We were definitely lucky with the weather," he had the good grace to acknowledge after his 68.

Birdies at the fifth and seventh to brought him to the turn in 33 and after an uneasy stretch of holes from the 11th to the 15th, he turned on the power in earnest. On the 475-yard 16th, uphill but downwind, Jones hit a huge drive of 310 yards and needed only a seven iron to reach a greenside trap from where he got up and down for a birdie. Then came an exemplary birdie two at the short 17th where a nine-iron tee-shot was followed by a 10-foot putt.