GOLF: On days when an ugly old wind which has its origins somewhere close to Newfoundland whips in off the Atlantic, and pin positions are just as nasty, the bottom line is survival.

And so it proved in the first round of the Smurfit Irish PGA Championship at Westport yesterday, where players were keener than usual to seek out the sanctuary of the locker-room, and many had that dazed expression of heavyweight boxers who had been involved in an almighty brawl.

Eamon Logue was pretty much the exception to the rule.

A 39-year-old club professional attached to the Hilton Templepatrick club on the outskirts of Belfast, Logue carded as fine a five-under-par round of 68 as it was possible to carve out on a course, and in weather, that didn't allow for any lapse in concentration or uncommitted execution of shots.

His opening round gave him a two-shot lead over former Ryder Cup player Philip Walton, while just six other players managed to dip below par.

It was a tough old day at the office, with the course inflicting its share of misery. In particular, the eighth, a par four of 472 yards, caused considerable grief.

"A very, very difficult hole," remarked Des Smyth.

And the statistics backed him up: of the 102 players in the field, 51 recorded bogeys, 20 suffered double bogeys and two incurred triple bogeys. Only one - Liam McCool - managed a birdie and, with an average of 4.93, it effectively played a stroke higher than its par.

There were many victims to be found, not least Paul McGinley. Despite holding things together for most of his round, and seemingly cruising when three-under after 10 holes, the Dubliner - the 5 to 6 on pre-tournament favourite - found a sting in the tail when he double-bogeyed his last two holes, the eighth, where he put his tee-shot into trees, and ninth, to sign for a 76. There were no excuses.

"Tough conditions," remarked McGinley, "but, then, it was the same for everyone. What can you do?"

Logue, though, was the player who defied logic and the conditions. His Irish PGA pedigree boasts a best-ever finish of 24th at The Island in 1999, but, on a day when many others struggled, the northerner got into a groove yesterday that reaped a remarkable seven birdies - the longest a 25-footer, at the sixth - and two bogeys to leave him leading a weather-beaten field.

If anyone should be used to these conditions, it is Walton, his closest pursuer. In Walton's last two European Tour events, in the Madeira Island and Portugal Opens, the weather has proved to be a wrecker.

Yesterday, it was a testimony to his ability to grind out a score that he overcame the setback of two early bogeys - on the 11th and 12th, having started on the 10th - to sign for a 70.

"It's a tough course, a grind from the word go," opined Walton, a four-time winner of the championship.

Nowadays relying mainly on invitations to play on the European Tour, Walton, also 39, is demonstrating signs of a new hunger for the game and the challenge.

He even suffered a three-putt from no more than four feet in his round, but there were so many good things to take out of it, including a hat-trick of birdies from the 16th.

"I'd love to be in there with a shout (come Sunday), it certainly wouldn't do me any harm," said Walton.

Walton is hot on the heels of Logue, but the conditions are such that a demanding few days lie ahead. Even the likes of McGinley and Eamonn Darcy, both on 76, are not out of the title race.

Smyth, the holder, and a six-time champion, also lurks menacingly on 71.

"On such a challenging day, you want to ensure that you get into position. I played really well, and am happy to be two-under," remarked Smyth.

He knows, more than most, that these events are won over the weekend.