EAMONN DARCY expected to be sweeping away cobwebs in his opening tournament of the season yesterday but, in the first round of the South African Open in Johannesburg, the Druids Glen professional weaved a little web of birdies to lie just two strokes off the lead held by local professional Wayne Bradley.

Bradley, from the nearby Modderfontein club, birdied five of the last seven holes for a seven-under-par 65 to keep the tournament favourite Ernie Els at bay.

With a magical touch on the greens, for which he credits his four-month work out at his home course and the gift of a new putter from a friend in Barbados, Darcy had a bogey-free five-under-par 67. He even shrugged off an untimely three-putt at the second last which cost him a share of second place with the defending champion Els, Ian Woosnam, rookie of the year Thomas Bjorn, and Els' compatriot Fulton Allem.

Only a par, because of the three-putt on the long 17th, denied Darcy a loftier spot than his sixth place finish.

Until then he had four birdies thanks to a 15-footer, two 10-foot putts and an astute pitch to five feet. Then Darcy needed three to get down after hitting on to 60 feet. Unabashed, he strode to the last, unleased a stunning drive and followed up with a glorious nine-iron to only 18 inches for his fifth birdie of the round.

"I hadn't a clue how I would go because this is my first competitive round since last September and I expected to be just getting rid of a few cobwebs," confessed Darcy. "But I putted lovely after getting down for two from 30-feet on the first to save par. That settled me down after I'd hit a bit of a necky drive.

"I was feeling pretty good with my putting after four rounds practising at Druids Glen. And I decided today I wouldn't rush anything, not press the panic button. My stroke was good because of that and because of my new Odyssey putter, which was given to me a couple of weeks ago by a friend in Barbados, Derek Smith.

"It did play me up a bit on the 17th, though. It's gold finished and the sun shone straight down on it up into my face. I couldn't see if I was squared up properly because it was dazzling me so much and I hit the ball wide and short. I'm going to put some tape on it to prevent it happening in the second round.

Meanwhile, Woosnam had to make four par saves, one of which came from a left-handed swipe at the 11th which earned him one of his six birdies. But his putter was as hot as Darcy's, a result of a little whittling down. "Peter Baker gave me a putter last week in Australia which I used for the last two rounds in Perth," revealed Woosnam. "It was a bit too long so I cut one and a half inches off it. It worked great today and I holed some really solid five and six-footers with it, the sort of putts you need to hole to be on the leaderboard. I had to tell Pete the bad news this morning!"

Darcy was the only Irishman of the seven to threaten the leaders, although Raymond Burns shot an accomplished 70. David Higgins was next best on 71, his putter decidedly cold or he could have been up alongside Darcy.

Three Irishmen followed a further stroke back. The in-form Padraig Harrington was definitely not on form on the greens although he posted a 72, as did John McHenry and Ronan Rafferty, who fought back from a double-bogey straight after the turn. "I struggled with reading the greens," admitted Harrington.

However, only Des Smith is out of the running. His bad 1996 spilled over to 1997 when he carded a 77 to leave him a mountain to climb today.