It may or may not be true that one can buy tins of Irish golfing brilliance in your local pro shop, but Damian McGrane kept the green, white and orange flag at the top of the leaderboard at the Joburg Open at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Thursday.

Irish golf is enjoying a phenomenal time of it on the various professional tours around the world and McGrane continued the trend on Thursday with a tremendous round of eight-under-par 63 to take him to the top of the leaderboard before a thunderstorm brought a halt to play.

“It’s been quite incredible the last three or four years for a small nation to have such great results and we do feed off each other a bit. When I won in China in 2008, Darren Clarke won the following week and Peter Lawrie the week after that. Every so often we have our good spells and I wouldn’t mine getting another one started here,” McGrane said after his great round.

To shoot seven birdies and an eagle and just one bogey (on the last hole!), McGrane obviously adhered to the theory that the most important way around the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington course is to keep your ball in play.

“I played beautifully, from start to finish. The West Course does give up opportunities to score and tomorrow will obviously be more difficult on the East Course. But the course is perfect, the weather was perfect and I made a few putts. <\p>

“I was able to stack up the birdies and chipped in for eagle on 15, which was a nice bonus. But the wetness of the course means there’s no run out there, the course is playing very long. I made use of every club in the bag and it was just about making the best of the situation. I hit every fairway, except for the last, which led to a bogey, which was disappointing,” McGrane said.

The 40-year-old is trying to recapture the heights of 2010, when he finished 41st on the European Tour Order of Merit, with a runner-up finish and five other top-10s, having endured a disappointing 2011. McGrane only finished 115th in the Race to Dubai and has failed to make a cut since the Castello Masters on April 23.

Barring a catastrophe on the East Course on Friday, McGrane will be in the money this weekend, trying to hold off the challenge of South African Desvonde Botes on seven-under, and the group on six-under comprising Joel Sjoholm, David Drysdale, George Coetzee, George Murray, Carlos del Moral, Shaun Norris and Jamie Elson.

Retief Goosen will have an axe to grind with whatever establishment he is boarding at this week having picked up a bout of food poisoning, but the two-time US Open champion didn’t allow it to stop him from firing a top-class round of 66 on the opening day of the Joburg Open at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Thursday.

Lately it’s been a dodgy back that has troubled Goosen, but that was fine on Thursday. His stomach – not so good.

“My back was okay, but I had a bit of stomach trouble. I went to the toilet six times before the round and another three times on the course. Maybe I should have had some Goose wine to settle it,” Goosen, whose other profession is wine-making, said.

Goosen’s round was set up by a fantastic front nine on the West Course in which he picked up five birdies.

“I had a good start with three straight birdies, the first nine was great but the back nine was a bit scrappy. I drove the ball okay on the back nine, but I didn’t really hit any good shots into the green. Seventeen was maybe another birdie chance,” Goosen mused.

Although he began the tournament on the easier of the two courses, Goosen said the West Course could still be tricky and he said the wind made it difficult to get his compass bearings right for some shots.

“The West Course is a bit shorter, but it still plays long and it’s still tricky. There are some very long par-fours and there’s a lot of moisture in the air, so the ball’s not flying that extra 10% you’d expect at altitude. I hit a few shots 10 or 15 yards short.

“There are some really good holes, 18 is tough, if you push the ball a little right off the tee, you can block yourself out. The wind was also never into you or straight down, it was coming through the trees, across the course the whole time, which makes it difficult to get the right ball-flight,” Goosen said.

The 42-year-old made pars on all but two of the holes on the back nine – bogeying the par-three 13th but then birdieing the par-five 15th hole.

“I played solid, maybe I could have had more birdies on the front nine, but you can push too hard on the West Course,” Goosen said.

South Africa’s Retief Goosen believes the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club will be a tricky test for the 210 golfers teeing it up in the Joburg Open starting on Thursday.

“The course is really long and very narrow and there’s a tough wind that blows across the whole course, which makes it tricky. The course is in great shape, but it will rain, it’s just a question of when.

“Down by the river, it’s very wet and you can hardly find a dry spot on the fairways, so more rain could be a problem,” Goosen warned on Wednesday.

The Goose said his initial aim in 2012 was to just recapture his best form after a back problem plagued him in 2011.

“My back is okay right now but I don’t know if I can win, I hope so! My last two tournaments went pretty well, just my putting let me down in the last rounds.

“Since the South Africa Open in November I’ve been playing nicely. Basically since my back got better, I’ve been able to practise better, to improve my game and make an impact. It’s from practising that you develop confidence and you have to have confidence to have feel.

“I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself, but it will be nice to have a chance to win,” Goosen said.

The two-time US Open champion said he has been receiving expert advice on his back problem.

“From the British Open it was a nightmare. I pulled out of a lot of tournaments and I couldn’t practice. I took a few months out because of my back, a couple of doctors suggested surgery, but I’m going to leave that as long as I can. I’m doing more physio and yoga to see if I can get the disk under control,” Goosen said.

Charl Schwartzel will be chasing a hat-trick of titles at the Joburg Open starting at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Thursday, and the Masters champion gave an ominous warning to the rest of the field when he said how much he liked the course.

“Last year, and even the year before that, I’ve played some really good golf here. I played here many times before as an amateur and a junior and I like it. A lot of shots just suit my eye and the greens are lovely.

“It’s a great place for me to start the year because I know the course so well. It’s not every day you play in a European Tour event and can stay at home!” Schwartzel said on Wednesday.

While the altitude of over 1 600 metres is not good on the lungs, Schwartzel said it suited his game plan for a course where his last eight rounds have been under 70 and 42-under-par overall.

“It’s one of the tougher courses in Johannesburg because of its length. And today it was playing the longest I’ve seen it for a while. But I feel good when the scoring is not so good, when guys don’t run away with the course.

“It’s also long because of all the rain and the rough is pretty dense too. You can get lucky, but you can’t afford too many loose shots. I hit a lot of three-woods around here, just to get the ball in play and 200 metres for your second shot at altitude is not much, so I’m not scared to back off off the tee.

“The main thing is not to make any stupid mistakes, the emphasis is on getting the ball in play,” Schwartzel said.

If the South African does win the Joburg Open for the third straight time, he will become just the sixth golfer to pull off a hat-trick of wins in a European Tour event after Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Colin Montgomerie, Ernie Els and Tiger Woods.

“It would be my first three-in-a-row and I’m up for the challenge. It’s something to play for, making it a hat-trick,” Schwartzel said.