Clarke tames Tiger then lets lead slip in mixed round

DARREN CLARKE got the better of Tiger Woods over the first nine holes of their NEC World Championship second round clash in Akron yesterday — but not by the amount he had hoped.

When he sank a 15-foot eagle putt on the 497-yard second and made a nine-footer for birdie at the next he led the $6million event by two strokes.

But then came bogeys on the seventh and eighth holes and as he began the back nine of Firestone’s South Course he trailed 2001 US PGA champion David Toms by two and shared second place with Vijay Singh, Brad Faxon, Chris Riley and 47-year-old Fred Funk, who earlier in the day had missed equalling the course record by just one shot with a dazzling 62.