Pre-tournament favourite Darren Clarke demonstrated his more relaxed approach despite running up a triple-bogey eight in his opening five-over-par 77 at the South African Open yesterday.

Clarke was two under after seven holes but dropped back to level before coming unstuck on the par-five third hole.

Just left of the green in two, his pitch to the green came up short in the bunker and from a bad lie his fourth shot got to the top of the bank before rolling back down past him.

From there it took three more attempts to find the putting surface, his seventh shot finishing just inches from the hole.

"It was just one of those things," a phlegmatic Clarke admitted. "I didn't play that badly but I just got punished for a couple of wayward shots. "It's disappointing after being two under and it could have been four or five - but at least I birdied the last!

"The course was much easier than yesterday, as benign as it was ever going to be, and it was the perfect opportunity to shoot a decent score but all my practice the last two weeks at home was in vain.

"I've never been comfortable on greens like this, they're very grainy and difficult to read. They are the same as at Durban Country Club and my best score in three attempts there is 77."

England's Greg Owen had his sights set on a maiden European Tour victory after enjoying a rare pain-free opening. Owen carded a five-under-par 67 at East London to lie just two shots off the pace set by South African Hennie Otto, with Spain's Ignacio Garrido alone in second after a 66.

Wales' Bradley Dredge joined Owen and Switzerland's Paolo Quirici on five under shortly before play was abandoned for the day as darkness fell following two delays due to the threat of lightning in the afternoon.

Owen had six birdies and just one dropped shot as he took advantage of unexpectedly benign conditions on the normally windswept course.

The 28-year-old from Mansfield has yet to win after four years on tour but is in confident mood after his joint-10th place finish last week when he discovered an unusual cause for a back problem that has plagued him for eight years.

A physiotherapist at the tournament noticed that his left leg appeared shorter than his right and after X-rays confirmed there was a 7mm difference, it was temporarily rectified for the final two rounds by taping a few pages of the Yellow Pages together inside his shoe.

A foam insert is in place for this week and Owen will use specially constructed in-soles when he can get some new wider shoes to accommodate them.

Now free of pain, Owen feels it is time he made the leap from consistent performer to tournament winner and better his previous best finishes of third in Brazil last year and third in the Lancome Trophy in 1999.

He even has one eye on qualifying for the European Ryder Cup team to face the Americans at The Belfry in September.

"There is one obvious aim, the Ryder Cup," admitted Owen, who finished 39th on the Order of Merit last year. "It's got to be on the mind of everyone out here."

It certainly has been on the mind of Paul McGinley, whose 71 yesterday left him six shots off the pace set by Otto.

The South African was also recovering from a painful situation, although his was of the self-inflicted variety.

After shooting a second-round 80 in the South African Masters at the Wild Coast resort a fortnight ago, the 24-year-old snapped most of his clubs in the car-park, ran them over in his car and then dumped the offending items in a nearby river.

Armed with a new set and a new attitude he carded six birdies, one eagle and one bogey in his 65.