O'Hern singing in the rain

With the rain teeming down, Eamonn Darcy, the last of eight Irish competitors in the Stg£1.5 million Volvo PGA Championship, stood on the second tee here on the West Course yesterday. It was 2.45 p.m. when the decision was taken to suspend play on a saturated course. And with the heavens showing no mercy, there was no resumption.

From a field of 156, only 60 competitors have completed the first round. Which means that the organisers will send the remainder out at 7.20 a.m. this morning in a shotgun start, and then commence the second round at 9.30 a.m., weather permitting. While taking the decision to abandon play at 5.50 p.m, they were conscious that the only time in its 45-year history that this flagship event was reduced to 54 holes, was in 1984 when Howard Clark won at this venue.

Conditions were fine, if overcast, when the Australian Nick O'Hern set-off at 7.0 a.m. in the first three-ball of the tournament. And he proceeded to set a worthy target for the field, by shooting a splendid seven-under-par 65 to lead by two strokes from Richard Green and Robert Karlsson at the end of play.

Five hours later, Des Smyth remarked enviously on O'Hern's score while looking out at ominous skies. In the event, the Irish players who finished their rounds before play was suspended were: 72 - Padraig Harrington and Damian McGrane; 74 - Neil Manchip. Other positions - Ronan Rafferty (two over after eight), Darren Clarke (one under after seven), Paul McGinley (two under after six), Smyth (level after two) and Darcy (level after one).

So, potentially, McGinley is best positioned of the eight, having hit a seven-iron to two feet for a birdie at the short second and then reduced the long fourth to a drive, three iron and two putts from 30 feet for another birdie. But it is clearly an unreal and unhappy situation, with the prospect of further rain over the weekend.

Equally unreal, in the context of recent performances, was the sight of Seve Ballesteros at one under par, after five pars and a birdie before the rains came. And the day was even more kind to another favourite, Sandy Lyle, who talked of returning to European golf after covering his last 11 holes in three under, for a level-par 72.

Meanwhile, as an avowed advocate of orthodoxy, Fred Daly always dismissed left-handers as deformed golfers. But he would have found the assessment difficult to sustain, with regard to O'Hern and fellow Australian Green, both of whom are accomplished lefties.

In fact O'Hern took to playing left-handed golf because it felt like the correct way to do it. "I've heard that the top hand should be stronger, so I did what came naturally," he said. Just like his fellow anti-podean Bob Charles did. And the right-handed Phil Mickelson.

Anyway, there wasn't much wrong with a round which contained no bogeys and seven birdies, five of them in a sparkling homeward journey of 32.

Indicative of brilliant iron play was that his longest birdie putt was from 10 feet at the eighth. And despite the additional yardage, he birdied the closing two holes, wedging to eight feet at the 17th and again on the last.

"The course is fantastic, long and pretty tough," he said after his first competitive round at Wentworth. "I played a practice round here last year but I didn't get in and went to a Challenge Tour event instead." The 28-year-old from Perth, has two Australian victories to his credit and became a rookie on the European Tour last season.

The emotional strain of coping with people's reaction to his disaster at The Belfry, has clearly taken its toll on Harrington. It would explain his poor levels of concentration, especially on the front nine when he reversed the trend by shooting a one-over-par 36, which included bogeys at the seventh and ninth where he was in rough off the tee.

But his game sharpened appreciably on the homeward journey, even though his putter remained decidedly non-productive. Having earlier birdied the long fourth which he reached with a six iron; he also birdied the long 12th with two putts from 30 feet and chipped to one foot for a birdie at the last.

In between, there were missed five-footers, for par at the 16th, where his wedge approach caught an overhanging branch, and for birdie at the long 17th. "After those two misses, I really needed that birdie at the last," he said. "The annoying thing was that I felt I hit a lot of good putts today." McGrane, who is making a return challenge here as runner-up in last season's Irish Order of Merit, has strong prospects of surviving the cut for the first time, after a fine 72 which contained five birdies. The Wexford professional was, in fact, one-under-par for the round after wedging to 10 feet for a birdie at the long 12th.

From there, however, frail tee shots led to bogeys at the next three. And instead of making a comfortable score, he had to battle with birdies at the 16th, where he hit an eight iron to two feet, and at the last, where he holes a 15 footer. "I suppose it was a good score, given the way I drove the ball," he said.

Manchip's 74 was remarkable, given that it included a doublebogey at the first, where he thinned a greenside bunker recovery, and a triple-bogey at the eighth, where he was in trees off the tee and in a poor lie greenside in three. He covered his last 10 holes in two under, with birdies at the 11th, where he sank a 10 footer and at the 18th, which he reduced to a drive, five iron, sandwedge and 10-foot putt.

"This is my first competitive round at Wentworth and I'm really delighted with the way I recovered," said Manchip afterwards. "Things were looking pretty grim at the eighth. Now, with a good second round, I've got a real chance of making the cut."