THEY matched strokes at the top of the leaderboard, the old hand and one of his more gifted successors. In the process, Eamonn Darcy and Darren Clarke gave a distinctly Irish flavour to developments in the £1.1 million Volvo PGA Championship, with six under par opening rounds of 66 here on the West Course yesterday.

Having claimed the limelight before lunchtime, the Irish duo remained there at the end of play, despite the drama of the long, finishing holes, which yielded their usual quota of birdies and eagles. Not even the exploits of former champion Ian Woosnam could dislodge them, late in the day.

Shadows were lengthening when the diminutive Welshman came to the long 17th on three under par. A birdie there and an eagle at the last would give him a share of the lead. As it happened, he parred the 17th and then, to a deafening roar from the gallery, gained an outrageous eagle at the last, holing a huge putt of 54 feet from off the front fringe.

Meanwhile, Scotland's Dean Robertson found a way of making a par round not only interesting, but utterly baffling. It had to do with his play of the first five holes where he carded eagle, doublebogey, par, eagle and birdie, to be thereunder at that stage.

Eight of the 12 Irish challengers shot par or better, but it remained a grim experience for two others. Though be birdied the last, Padraig Harrington was never at ease with his game in a disappointing 74, and Paul McGinley ran up a wretched eight at the treacherous 17th on the way to a dispiriting 76.

Former champions also suffered to varying degrees. Seve Ballesteros had great difficulty in stringing good shots together on the way to a 76, while JoseMaria Olazabal received the mandatory Wentworth punishment for poor driving in a 72.

Nick Faldo also struggled, particularly on the greens, where he was clearly short of confidence. "My putting was not great - too many strokes," he said after a moderate start of 70. Despite his sojourn in the US, Faldo was acutely aware of the West Course in one of its more benign moods. It even conceded a hole in one - to South Africa's Jeff Hawkes, whose seven iron found the target at the 155 yard second.

With only the gentlest breeze brushing the pines, conditions were ideal when Darcy set forth to rediscover former tories. Though he was twice runner up in this championship - in play offs to Arnold Palmer in 1975 and to Neil Coles a year later both events were at Royal St George's.

But he was clearly in the mood for Wentworth, with its subtle slopes and glorious greens. And it had much to do with a new putter, called a Scotty Cameron, which he used to win the Quinn Direct charity tournament at Slieve Russell earlier this week.

While carding seven birdies, the 44 year old gave only one stroke back to the course, by three putting the eighth. Given his seven single putts, that lapse meant he had 30 putts for the round - a remarkable return by recent standards. Indeed the entire exercise was something of a bonus for a player who felt sure his career was at an end three years ago because of back problems.

Despite his success on the greens, however, a lasting memory of the round was the way he finished it. Vintage Darcy. In attempting to cut a threewood towards the narrow entrance to the green, he pulled it wide of the trap on the left. From there, all the old magic was evident in a superb little pitch which cleared the bunker and ran on to finish within an inch of the hole.

In describing the round, Darcy said simply: "I'm only doing what everyone else is doing out there - holing putts." He then explained how he came to have this wondrous new putter. "Tiger Woods uses it and I reckoned if I could hole half the ones he makes I would be doing well," he said.

Putters are odd implements. Take Woosnam's experience. Having sent "Wobbly" for a Ping putter with a specially cut down shaft of 33 inches on Wednesday, the caddie returned with a 32 inch model. "Shows, how good his maths are," grinned Woosnam, who went on to explain that the putter suited him perfectly.

Clarke's achievement lay in the fact that he was still in control of his emotions, having endured the frustration of repeated missed chances over the first 11 holes. Then the game decided to reward him.

In attempting one of his Sunday best drives down the long 12th, he put too much right hand into the shot, hooking it into trees. It rebounded onto the fairway, however, and Clarke went on to hit a glorious four iron of 206 yards onto the left side of the green, 30 feet from the pin. The putt, solidly struck, ran unerringly into the hole.

That was the lift he needed to turn on the style. There were delightful mid iron shots to the 15th and 16th to set up solid pars, before his next break came at the 17th, where he sank a 25 footer for a birdie. Then, on the last, he reached the green with a three two putt birdie four.

"It's great to see Darce up there," said Clarke afterwards. "This a really big weekend for us and I'm certainly determined to be in the shake up next Monday."

The Ulsterman then acknowledged that in previous failures at Wentworth, he had failed to extract an appropriate return from the par fives. Significantly, he covered them in five under par on this occasion.

Walton's return was a more modest two under, with birdies at the 17th, where he wedged to eight feet, and the 18th, where he hit a three iron to the right edge. The more significant element of his 69 came midway through the round when he went from the seventh to the 11th in three under par.

"I'm playing well," he said afterwards. "It's always really special to do a good score around this course. Wentworth has a special feel to it." Just so.