McGinley's good form at The Oxfordshire

An ill-fated tournament was hit once more by hostile weather yesterday, when thunder and lightning delayed play for more than six hours, at the Benson and Hedges International. And when God eventually finished moving His furniture around - it's hard to rid oneself of these childhood images - only half the field completed the opening round.

Among them was Ireland's Paul McGinley who maintained fine recent form with a 69 to be only two strokes off the lead. Darren Clarke also had reason to be pleased with a protracted day's work after a 70 that contained one particularly memorable shot.

It came at the 498-yard seventh, his 16th hole. After a fine drive of almost 300 yards, Clarke's ball finished in an awkward lie on a downslope. Indicative of his confidence was a five-iron of 200 yards which he hit brilliantly with a controlled draw to set up a simple, two-putt birdie from 25 feet.

Punishing overnight rain which extended well into the morning, took its toll on the course, with pressure marks being particularly noticeable on the front-nine greens. Conditions prompted Lee Westwood to remark: "With reasonable putting, I would have shot six under, instead of a 71."

In the circumstances, it was a sparkling effort by the leader, Dean Robertson, to birdie five of the last six holes on the way to a 67. Afterwards, he paid tribute to his Dublin caddie, Brian Byrne. "He was back with me after an 11week absence through injury and it made me feel more comfy," said the 27-year-old Scot.

Of the nine Irish challengers, six of them finished, including Christy O'Connor Jnr, who recovered from a dispiriting bogey at the first to shoot a fine 72. But there was greater merit in the level-par effort of Philip Walton who, after starting on the 10th, dropped a total of four strokes at the 11th (bogey), 12th (double-bogey) and 13th (bogey).

With only three cuts and a bestplace finish of 40th in eight tournaments so far this season, Walton could clearly use a change of fortune. "I'm chuffed - that was a very important comeback for me," he said after carding birdies at the sixth, seventh and eighth - his 15th, 16th and 17th holes.

Having started at the 10th, Walton was four-over - "here we go again" - playing the 16th where his comeback began with a 20-foot birdie putt. Later, precise iron play meant that he had to sink putts of no more than three feet, eight feet and a 12-footer for three more birdies.

McGinley was delighted not only to have finished, but to have maintained the fine form he showed in a third-place finish in Majorca last week. But he admitted he was wrong to change the shaft of his driver from 45 to 46 inches in a search for greater length.

"It worked fine in the pro-am and in practice but it let me down under the pressure of tournament play," he said. "I'll revert to my old driver from here on." Significantly, his only bogey was the product of a badly-pulled drive on the 18th.

Starting on the 10th, he was three-under-par for his opening six holes. A pitch to 12 feet produced a birdie at the long 11th; he hit a sandwedge to 10 feet for another birdie at the 14th and he picked up another shot at the next, by chipping into the hole from 15 yards. His remaining birdie came at the long seventh where he reached the front edge of the green in two.

Clarke discarded a new set of irons in favour of his old models and as his effort at the long seventh suggested, he struck the ball beautifully from tee to green. In fact his only missed fairway was the 18th, where he still saved par, and he hit every target with the exception of the 15th.

These fine statistics were offset, however, by decidedly moderate fortune on the greens, where he had 34 putts. "Most of the guys were having problems on the greens and what really pleases me is the way my course management has improved this year," he said afterwards. "I know I'm making progress, even if it's not always evident in my results."

The three other Irishmen in the field - Padraig Harrington, Ronan Rafferty and Des Smyth - will have to complete the first round when play resumes at 7.45 this morning. Harrington's performance has been especially interesting so far, in that he had only two pars on his card when reaching the turn in 33 - three-underpar - before play was suspended.

Rafferty eagled his last hole of the day to be one under par after seven and Smyth opened with three pars.