The can think of of two ways:
select *
into #temp
from OpenRowSet(...)
where 1=2
select count(*)
from tempdb.sys.columns
where object_id = object_id('tempdb..#temp')
drop table #temp
and use sp_OA procedures to launching Scripting.FileSystemObject. Open the file, and read the first line. # columns = # of commas + 1.
Wayne
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes