In surviving the treacherous 17th hole with what he termed "a good bogey", having putted onto the road in rather bizarre fashion with his third shot, Darren Clarke gleaned almost as much satisfaction from his overall game as much as his score - a 69 for five-under-par 139 - in moving to the fringe of contention after yesterday's second round.
Indeed, there was much evidence of his coach Butch Harmon's assertion that his game has returned. "Darren got a bit sloppy over the past month, but we've got him back on track," asserted his tutor. And, while a run of five birdies in seven holes from the ninth provided the highlight, it was his handling of potential disaster at the Road Hole that was most impressive.
On the most difficult hole on the Old Course, Clarke's seven-iron approach out of rough finished short of the green and 60 feet from the flag. Opting to use his putter - "I've grown up on links courses and that's what I have always done," he explained - he proceeded to send the ball up onto the green and off it again and down onto the road. However, he recovered superbly by putting back up the slope to 10 feet and sinking the bogey putt.
"I'm okay, fine," remarked a cool, calm and collected Clarke. "I'm happy especially with the way that I'm hitting the ball although, personally, I would like it to blow a bit more over the weekend. Although, having said that, it would probably mean I'll end up in more bunkers." So far, he hasn't visited any.
Clarke's run of birdies featured three in a row from the ninth, including a 35-footer up the hill at the 11th, and then back-to-back efforts at the 14th and 15th.
In contrast, Paul McGinley's putter remained stubbornly cold. His only birdie came at the fifth and he remarked: "It's hard to post a score with just one birdie." His problems basically stemmed from poor approach play which consistently left him in the 40-foot range from the flag. "To make birdies around here, you have to hit it a lot closer," he said.
His round of 72 for three-under-par 141 contained that single birdie and a bogey on the 14th. "I didn't deserve to score any better, the way I played. But I'm not that far away," McGinley said.
Harrington was disappointed after a 72 - and a total of 140 - in which he let several birdie opportunities slip by.
There was a sense of grievance from Christy O'Connor Jnr that his golf actually deserved a better return. He three-putted three times in the opening five holes and finished with a 75 for level par 144, exactly on the cut mark. "I got hammered on the greens," he said, "and feel terribly hard done by. However, it means a lot to me to make it to the weekend, so that is something to be pleased about."
