Clarke downcast, Harrington upbeat

YOU would have thought they were playing different courses and different tournaments to observe the contrasting demeanours between Darren Clarke and Pádraig Harrington after both struggled around in 75 shots at Royal St George’s yesterday.

Whereas Clarke was down in the dumps, Harrington was full of smiles and quips and even went so far as to declare "it was my most enjoyable round of the year so far".

As it transpired, four over might not be all that bad given the fact that nobody opened a huge gap at the top of the leaderboard, but clearly both men have a lot to do to entertain a reasonable hope of being in the shake-up come Sunday.