Irish keep up the pressure

Darren Clarke battled to recover from a double bogey seven at the 2nd and Padraig Harrington quietly moved up the leaderboard,in the second round of the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits yesterday.

Meanwhile, Masters champion Phil Mickelson lost out on a golden opportunity to put pressure on the leaders.

Clarke twice visited sand on the way to dropping two strokes at the 11th (his 2nd) but held his head well to get back to his original seven under with birdies at the 14th and 16th before he cracked a glorious long iron to fifteen feet behind the flag at the clifftop 17th and rolled in the putt for a third successive gain.

He duly moved to nine under with a four at the long 2nd. Harrington mixed three birdies, at the 1st, 7th and 10th, with a bogey at the 8th to get to six under.

All the time, Ernie Els was moving majestically along and his fourth birdie of the day at the 10th pushed him out to ten under, two ahead of clubhouse leader Briny Baird, Clarke and Justin Leonard.

Mickelson shot an ordinary enough 69 in Thursday’s far easier conditions but looked to be on course for something really good yesterday when, after starting at the 10th, he picked up strokes at the 10th, 15th and 16th and at that point was playing so well that he could have gone really low.

However, the magic disappeared into the adjacent Lake Michigan, the gifted left hander double bogeyed the long 5th and bogeyed 7 and 8 before rescuing something from the wreckage by making birdie at number nine. That gain gave Mickelson considerable hope going into the weekend.

“It was nice to finish by making a putt and as the conditions get more difficult, there is every chance that eight under will stay in the lead and if it does, then I’m only five back going into the weekend,” he said.

“The eight previous holes to that on the back side were not very good with the putter.

“For an eight hole stretch, the putter just didn’t seem to co-operate. I really gave a lot of shots away there.

“If I continue to get better as the week wears on, play well on Saturday and give myself a chance on Sunday, I certainly like the position I’m in. But the weather has got to stay difficult today and the wind stay up for me to stay within five shots.

“Otherwise, you’ll see guys like Ernie Els, Darren Clarke and Justin Leonard going to 9, 10, 11 under and then I will be in a difficult spot.”

It certainly wasn’t the beauty of his putting stance that had Briny Baird leading in the clubhouse at eight under par for much of the day.

He crouches over the ball with his left foot well in front of the right but, for now, it is working for the 32-year-old.

He has yet to win on the US Tour and his only top ten of the current season dates all the way back to the Sony Open in January when he tied for 5th.

Indeed, he has missed the cut in his last two tournaments but Paul McGinley, his partner for each of the last two days, believes Baird can make a serious bid for the title.

“He has played wonderfully well,” said the Irishman.

“He’s taken on shots over water with two irons which is pretty brave.

“We’ll see what happens at the weekend.

“There are 156 guys here this week and there are 120 who can win.

“His putting method is fine. Gary Player used to putt something like that. Gary had that right foot very much withdrawn - and it works.”

Baird himself insists he’s not afraid of winning and stresses: “I’ve put myself in position to do it before so this definitely doesn’t surprise me. If, at the end, of four rounds I am here talking, then that might be a surprise.

“I fully intend to go out there and give it my best shot but we’re talking about winning a major and it’s only Friday.”

Forty-year-old Stephen Ames from Trinidad is a player who has been creating quite a reputation for himself on the US Tour having once been a regular in Europe where he captured the Benson & Hedges International in 1996. He moved to the United States two years later and after a slow beginning, improved to such an extent that he won this year’s Western Open. He is now nicely placed on five under par after rounds of 68 and 71. At the other end of the spectrum was the sight of Tiger Woods battling an ailing long game in a bid to avoid missing the cut in a major for the first time since he turned professional in 1996.

He was all over the place in slumping to three over par through eight holes with the projected cut standing at two over.