Tournament golfers seem to have a remarkable facility for developing acute myopia in the heat of battle. So it was that Darren Clarke could claim to have known nothing about the misfortunes of his chief rival, Lee Westwood, while he himself carded a wonderful 68 in the first round of the £2 million Volvo Masters here at Montecastillo yesterday.

"I never saw the scoreboards," said the Tyroneman. As it happened, Westwood's horrific figures over the closing holes provided reading more suited to Hallowe'en as he went bogey, double-bogey, double-bogey, bogey from the 14th to the 17th.

Nothing can be decided this weekend in the context of the Order of Merit title. But it is clear that the current leader, Westwood, did himself serious damage with a round of 76 which left him nine strokes behind the joint leaders, Jose-Maria Olazabal and Sweden's Pierre Fulke, on 67. Olazabal's score was especially impressive, given that it came late in the day when the temperature had dropped and the wind had risen appreciably around this Jack Nicklaus-designed layout. And with water very much in play over the closing three holes, wayward striking was severely punished.

Padraig Harrington was among those to pay the price when bogeys at the 16th and 17th knocked him back to level par from a prospective 70.

"It would have been a steal, given the way I played," he said, with typical candour. "Maybe I panicked a little over those closing holes."

Ireland's other two challengers, Paul McGinley and Ronan Rafferty, could have no complaints about 73s. Rafferty carded two successive bogeys in the middle of each nine while McGinley admitted: "I simply didn't hit my iron shots close enough to give myself birdie chances."

Meanwhile, the ominous figure of Colin Montgomerie, supreme in the Order of Merit over the last seven years, is lurking on 69 after he, too, had faced the worst of the weather. Not averse to applying a little extra pressure on the leaders, the big Scot said menacingly: "I'm the one they won't want to see in their rear-view mirror. I got the worst of today's conditions, but things should even themselves out tomorrow."

Montgomerie knows he has to win here and again in Valderrama next week to have any chance of maintaining a remarkable European dominance. But he's right: Clarke and Westwood will be looking over their shoulders.

Clarke, who won this title two years ago, produced impressive form in a round which ended with three birdies and contained few errors.

And what of the bigger picture, the quest of the Merit title? "I'm now experienced enough to know that I daren't get ahead of myself," he added. "But I'm playing well. This was a very good score in conditions which were more difficult than anything I have previously encountered around here." It was quite revealing that he had no difficulty in remembering precise distances. For instance, that he hit an eight-iron 132 yards to within three feet of the first pin for an opening birdie. Or that a five-iron was punched 158 yards under the wind to within six feet of the sixth.

But the most telling rewards were the closing birdies, especially after a pulled driver second-shot of 235 yards had led to a bogey at the 466-yard 15th, playing directly into the wind.

In the event, he landed a 40-yard pitch nine feet from the pin for a birdie on the long 16th; sank a 25-footer for a three at the treacherous 17th, and eased in a 12-footer across the green at the last.

Westwood, playing directly behind him, looked to be in great shape when a run of three threes - par, eagle, birdie - from the 11th, left him two under for the round at that stage. But after finding clinging rough for a six at the 15th, he was twice in water at the next. Stunned by the setback, he made a hasty departure from the scene of his torment, without comment.

Some serious sins by Harrington were offset by his trusty blade, which he used only 27 times in the round. And problems off the tee caused him to contemplate a change of driver for today.

He carded a wretched seven at the long third, where he drove into rough and was in water in three. He then had to sink a 40-foot putt for a bogey at the seventh. A poor three-wood second shot led to his bogey at the long 16th, and with the same club he drove into water at the next, where he also encountered serious problems last year.

So, how would be characterise the round? "I was terrible," he said with one of those ready smiles. Perhaps that's what Westwood would also have said, had he chosen to stay around.