Darren Clarke produced a birdie, birdie finish for a timely lift to a decidedly moderate second round in the USPGA Championship at Valhalla yesterday.
It gave him a level-par 72 for a halfway total of 140, which is seven strokes behind his old adversary, Tiger Woods
Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington was consigned to an overnight wait to discover whether his three-over-par 147 would be sufficient to ensure survival.
The general upheaval caused by torrential rain on Thursday night has meant he will have to wait until this morning to have his weekend participation confirmed.
Ireland's third representative, Paul McGinley, who is making his debut in the event seemed to be doing nicely in his battle for survival, until he reached the treacherous 467-yard 12th.
For a second-successive day, he carded a double-bogey six there to be knocked back to three over par for the championship.
In the fifth-last group into action, it was always certain McGinley would be unable to finish his round last night, because of a rain delay. So, he and Harrington faced a similar wait, although McGinley needs to eagle his only remaining hole, the 18th, to have a chance of making the cut.
Clarke was always going to be the strong Irish hope after an opening 68 had left him only two strokes off the lead.
But some indifferent iron-shots destroyed his chance of extracting the maximum return from good scoring conditions.
One under par for the round after a 15-footer found the target at the long 10th, he then tumbled out of contention with bogeys at the 11th, 12th and 16th, all through slack approach play.
But he set himself up for a productive weekend through exemplary play on the last two holes.
Clarke reduced the 422-yard 17th to a drive, seven iron and 15-foot putt.
Then came a delightful sandwedge pitch to the last, which he completed with a curling, right-to-left 18-footer for birdie.
"I paid the price for a few bad swings, so it was good to finish as strongly as I did," he said.
"I now have to go out and attack the course over the weekend, in search of birdies.
"This course can bite you back if you do that, but I feel I have no other option."
Despite an opening 75, Harrington seemed to have made his qualifying position safe when a birdie on the 17th left him two-over-par for the championship with one hole to play.
But the 542-yard 18th was a lot more difficult than it had been on the opening day.
Apart from the fact that the wind had turned around to be facing the players, there was virtually no run on the ball.
In the event, Harrington pulled his drive into left rough. He was still in the left rough in two.
After three he was still 30 yards short of the hole and, after pitching 20 feet past, he took two putts for a bogey six.
"I expect that bogey putt to get me in," he said afterwards. "I found the course a lot more difficult today in that the wind had freshened considerably. But the greens were certainly a lot more receptive."
And what of his injured neck? "It was a little stiff when I woke up, but it gave me no trouble throughout the round.
"That is why I am anxious to continue playing here, instead of having the weekend off. This is the one that counts."
Harrington had a particularly early start, rising at 4.45 a.m. so as to have an hour of manipulation on his upper back before his scheduled start at 7.43 in the third grouping of the day.
All of that was to change, however, when play was put back an hour.
The first thing the Dubliner became aware of was European Tour official John Paramor in a visible position with a stop-watch to the ready, so as to ensure there wouldn't be a repetition of the horrendous delays of Thursday. "It was understandable and it didn't bother me," he said.
As it happened, a comfortable target became decidedly difficult when he double-bogeyed the 12th where he missed the green and then three-putted from 15 feet.
Small wonder that he conceded afterwards: "I didn't putt well."
If fact, 29 putts for the round was quite acceptable: the problem was that he hit only 18 out of 36 greens over the two days.
