IT must have been the inspiration of having compatriot Darren Clarke battling for the title. Either way, three Irish challengers, most notably Eamonn Darcy, made substantial progress through the final round yesterday.

Darcy, joint leader with Clarke last Friday, shot a splendid 67 for 284 to leap from 37th to a share of 11th and a prize of £18,930. And the effort was such that he decided to make a late withdrawal from the Deutsche Bank Open, which starts on Thursday.

By his own estimation, the Delgany player had never made a better start to a competitive round at Wentworth. He covered the first four holes in birdie, birdie, par, eagle, the last of these being the product of a five iron approach to two feet at the 501 yard fourth.

Three putts cost him a bogey at the next but he responded with a further birdie at the eighth to reach the turn in 31 - four under. And he picked up further strokes with 20 foot putts at the 10th and 11th to be six under par for the round at that stage.

Three putts at the long 17th, however, caused him to settle for a homeward 36.

"The putter let me down on the home stretch," he said afterwards. "In fact that slip on the 17th cost me a place in the top 10."

Ronan Rafferty, whose previous biggest cheque this season was £4,297 for 15th place in Portugal, also finished disappointingly by three putting the 18th for a par. But the blade had been good to him earlier in the round in which he had five successive birdies from the fourth and another at the long 12th.

"I had 35 putts in a 74 on the opening day and 31 putts in a 68 today - that's the difference," he said afterwards. It gave him a share of 19th place for £12,388 and he will be in action again in Hamburg this week along with Paul McGinley, Des Smyth, David Higgins and Raymond Burns. Though he is also entered, Clarke is expected to make a late withdrawal.

Burns's round took off with a birdie burst from the 10th to the 12th but he proceeded to squander chances at the finish. Powerful driving left him within reach of the 571 yard 17th with a three iron and the 502 yard 18th with as little as an eight iron but in each case the shot was pulled left of the target.

A double bogey at the 11th, where he missed the green and three putted, killed Walton's challenge. Still, a round of 74 for 285 earned a share of 14th place with Burns and three others and a prize of £15,510. Walton's finish might have been a lot more modest but for an improbable chip in birdie from off the back of the short

Padraig Harrington, who is taking this week off, birdied the 11th, 12th and 13th in a closing 73. "I wasn't here mentally - I made a lot of elementary errors," he said afterwards. "It was the wrong week to be doing that." He was tied 60th for £3,080.

Des Smyth (73 for 294) was tied 65th for £1,876 and David Higgins (73 for 296) collected £1,637, for a share of 72nd place.