A heavy mist had settled over the South Course here at Firestone yesterday when Darren Clarke came in with a sparkling 66 in the opening round of the WCG/NEC Invitational. Significantly, it matched the effort of a resilient Tiger Woods earlier in the afternoon, but was a stroke behind Jim Furyk and the improbable figure of 46-year-old Greg Norman.

Padraig Harrington complained of putting problems in poor light on the way to a 68. But in returning the same score, Paul McGinley completed the free-spirited round of a man whose confidence has moved him to a higher plane.

On a beautifully-presented course with receptive greens, scoring was of a high order. And it meant revisiting the much-discussed golfing demise of Woods for the umpteenth time. Indeed the defending champion was clearly irritated by the prophets of doom, after a round which contained a run of three birdies at the 14th, 15th and 625-yard 16th.

"People who say those things about me don't understand the game of golf," he said afterwards. "Between the heat of Atlanta and an attack of food poisoning, I've lost nine pounds in the last eight days. I was a bit worried about my stamina for today, but I've been all right. I'm now going to try and increase my eating to get the weight back on."

He added: "Though this course doesn't give you much room for error, I knew I could be aggressive. In fact after working on a few things recently, I felt today like I felt for much of last season (when he won three major championships). I came here with a lot of confidence because of the way I was swinging the club in the final round in Atlanta last Sunday."

The leaderboard represented an endorsement of the Ryder Cup qualification process in both Europe and the US, given the presence of Furyk, Clarke, Thomas Bjorn, Woods, Colin Montgomerie, Phil Mickelson, Paul Azinger and challenger Ian Poulter, all within two strokes of each other.

Clarke, who hit a series of wonderfully precise approach shots, was only six inches from carding successive eagles. At the 497-yard second, a five wood of 220 yards landed four feet from the pin and he sank the putt. At the next, a nine iron finished only six inches from the target, presenting the simplest of birdies.

From then on, he maintained the momentum with three further birdies and a lone bogey at the 13th where he was in a greenside bunker. And after experimenting with various blades, he eventually found one which delivered a fine dividend of 28 putts, with the longest birdie effort being from 15 feet.

"Putting was the key and I made up for a few poor drives with some really good irons," he said afterwards. "The important thing here is not to hit the ball into the wrong places."

Meanwhile, McGinley's round at the head of an elite field, took only three hours 15 minutes in the company of Mark Calcavecchia, a noted hare. Indeed the 1989 British Open champion was once fined for exceeding the speed limit, when partnering John Daly in the Players' Championship at Sawgrass.

"It was a joy to play that way," said the Dubliner afterwards. The upshot was that on a formidable, par-70 stretch of 7,139 yards, he drove the ball impressively and hit a series of fine iron shots to set up a score three strokes better than the opening day last year. In the process he used every club in his bag, with the exception of the three wood. Notable among his longer shots was a three iron of 206 yards, uphill and into a breeze to within three feet of the pin at the yards fourth, for a birdie.

As it happened, Furyk hit a four wood of 215 yards to 15 feet at the same hole and he, too, make birdie. "I really enjoyed that," said the American. McGinley remarked: "Quite frankly it's a majestic course, a wonderful golfing theatre. One of the best I've ever played."

His only bogey came at the ninth where he missed his first fairway of the round, but he proceeded to cover the homeward journey in two under, wedging to five feet for a birdie at the 11th and holing another five-footer on the 17th. Given the importance of copper-fastening a Ryder Cup place, would be need to guard against getting ahead of himself? "Not on a course like this," he replied. "It is too difficult to allow the mind to drift beyond the challenge on hand."

Harrington claimed to have struggled on the greens but, as usual, he was somewhat overly self-critical. A lone three-putt was from the fringe of the long second, which he parred and his only bogey came at the sixth where he was in a greenside bunker.

Otherwise, he played impressively in the company of newly-crowned USPGA champion David Toms. "The poor light caused me to struggle with my alignment on the greens," he said afterwards.

And the final word? With Norman, naturally. "I'm not surprised to be up there," said the Shark with much of his old swagger. "I've been feeling good since last Monday and when that happens, it doesn't take much to deliver a score."