THEY stood together one the ninth tee, Paul McGinley and Jay Townsend. Playing this, their 18th hole in the £650,000 Desert Classic here at the Emirates GC yesterday, the Dubliner was five under par to his playing partner's seven under.

But by the end of the round, the American had increased the gap to five strokes, only one behind leader Miguel Angel Jimenez, who shot a sparkling 63.

Head hanging, fighting desperately to suppress his inner turmoil, McGinley forced a wry smile. "That was a dreadful kick in the teeth," he said of the double bogey six which ended his round of 69. "This can be a terribly cruel game, but you've got to take it."

Indeed golf is very much a game of moods. There was Eamonn Darcy, not knowing what to expect from his first competitive outing with a broomhandle putter, yet producing a fine 68 at the scene of his 1990 triumph. And Jimenez also knew he was on friendly terrain, having carded his first hole in one here in 1990.

Bright sunshine, a gentle breeze and superb greens made for ideal conditions. And some fairly hot scoring was reflected in the fact that while six Irishmen broke par the best of them, Darcy, was five strokes behind the leader. The Spaniard clearly failed to lift playing partner Philip Walton, who had two sixes in a round of 74, the same as Ronan Rafferty. And Darren Clarke headed straight to the practice ground for some remedial work with his irons after a dispiriting 73.

One of the more revealing aspects of the day's play was the manner in which Colin Montgomerie returned to competitive action after an absence of three months. Any apprehension the new slimline Scot may have felt soon disappeared when he hit two drivers to the 549 yard 10th, his opening hole, and then two putted from 20 feet for a birdie.

He also birdied the long 550 yard 13th with two drivers to 10 feet and went one better at the 530 yard third which he reduced to a driver, three wood and a 25 yard putt for an eagle three. Ironically, his only bogey of a round of 67 came at the treacherous long 18th, which he three putted from the front of the green.

I now feel confident I can do very well this week," said the world number four. "My putting remains a little rusty but that's to be expected. The course is in magnificent condition and as it gets firmer, the scoring should be even better."

The mood of Seve Ballesteros, the 1992 champion, was predictably more subdued after an opening 71. "In red figures - not bad," he remarked with heavy irony. "In view of the birdie chances I had out there, 69 would have been a fairer score, but the finish shows the lack of confidence."

He was referring to his play of the ninth, his 18th, where he and playing partner David Feherty both missed the green. From the more difficult side, the Spaniard chipped eight feet past the hole and missed the putt for a bogey whereas the Ulsterman chipped from off the front edge to tour feet for a closing par. Even allowing for the tricky nature of the Spaniard's chip, there was a time when nobody would have dared bet against him getting it close.

His compatriot, Jimenez, produced an exemplary round that contained nine birdies and no bogeys. In fact, his only loose shot was a pulled five iron to the 178 yard seventh where he still got up and down for a three. The 12th was the only other green he missed in regulation but given his proficiency with the blade he had 25 putts for the round that represented only a minor hiccup.

Having started on the 10th, he saved his best play for the front nine, carding five successive birdies from the second. Indicative of brilliant approach play was that four of the successful birdie putts were inside eight feet, while at the seventh a 20 footer found the target.

Darcy birdied all the four par fives, though the 13th was the only one he reached in two. That spoke volumes for the efficiency of the broomhandle putter which he held under his chin. He missed nothing inside five feet and his 28 putts for the round contrasted sharply with a total of 73 putts for his opening 36 holes in Morocco, last week.

"It felt terrible being so far away from the ball," he said. "I would much prefer to stick with the traditional method but the way this thing is working, it looks as if I've made the right choice." But he added: "That's not to say that there's no going back. I've learned never to rule out anything in golf.

Clearly the putting made a difference, but Darcy also played some majestic iron shots. This was reflected by the fact that the longest putts he holed were from 12 feet, at the third and 10th, while four other birdies were carded from within four feet of the target.

Christy O'Connor Jnr was also in buoyant mood after a 69 that contained five birdies, three of them from the 15th to the 18th. His bogeys came at the long third, where he found a terrible lie while opting to lay up, and at the eighth, where he failed to reach the green from rough on the left. Like Darcy, his iron play was of the highest quality.

McGinley started on the 10th and raced to two under after only three holes. Four further birdies more than offset a dropped shot at the short 15th to leave him five under par playing the last. There a pushed three iron approach missed the green on the wrong side; the downhill chip raced 22 feet past the pin; the return chip was three feet short; and he missed the putt. The sight of Townsend's birdie compounded his misery.

Feherty got over the food poisoning of Wednesday sufficiently well to card a 70 which included four birdies. "My game's in good shape and I'm particularly pleased that the inflammation has gone from my right elbow," he said afterwards. One of the highlights of his round was a glorious three iron of 240 yards, down the breeze and into the heart of the green at the 530 yard third where he had a two putt birdie.

Des Smyth felt he was one over the par for the day when he shot a 71, which meant that Raymond "Bums had a "regulation" 70. "After the disappointments of recent weeks, it's good to have a decent start like this," said the Banbridge player who was three under for the par fives.