Irish pair sparkle under German sun
Clarke shot 67 for seven under overall to leave him four behind leader Alex Cejka, with Harrington a stroke worse off after a 68. All three benefited from playing in the early morning when there was almost total calm.
Later in the day the afternoon contingent had to contend with an ever-freshening wind, so all credit to Kilkenny's Gary Murphy who battled his way through the worst of the elements to survive into the weekend thanks to a highly commendable second nine of 35 with birdies at the short 13th and par four 14th.
By the time he got to the long 17th, it was playing straight into the wind and cost Murphy a six, but he held his head and parred the last for a 73 and a level par total to finish two inside the cut.
Oddly enough, Clarke continues to bemoan his fortunes on the greens, immaculate as they are, but this time Harrington was a lot more effective with the wand and that more than anything else has helped convince him that better things may well be around the corner.
The American-based, Czech-born German Cejka leads by three on 11 under par after yesterday's 64 that contained eagles at the 12th and 17th in a back nine of 30, but the story of the day surrounded Gregory Havret.
The Frenchman birdied the devilishly difficult 17th late in the day only to run up a triple bogey seven at the 18th. He found a water hazard off the tee and eventually three putted to drop back into a tie for second alongside Englishman David Howell.
Clarke, the South Africans Trevor Immelman and Louis Oosthuizen and New Zealander Stephen Scahill are a stroke further back on seven under.
Hot favourite Ernie Els was left to curse his luck when, after battling gamely through the wind to reach seven under after 16, he got into all sorts of trouble at the par five 17th and ran up a double bogey seven.
This was Cejka's second 64 on this course and equals the record held by Tiger Woods and Mark Pilkington. Having enjoyed a considerable amount of success on the American circuit, Cejka has set his sights on a first appearance in this year's Ryder Cup match.
He intends playing in enough Ryder Cup counting tournaments on the European Tour to qualify for selection while stressing that his priority is to secure his card in the States. With Colin Montgomerie's career in serious crisis and other likely team candidates like Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Justin Rose failing as yet anyway to create the anticipated impression, Cejka would certainly be a welcome addition to the European cause if he can maintain his current form.
All that said, it is hardly an imposing leaderboard and Ireland's two main contenders are entitled to believe they can make their presence felt.
"I've definitely got the game where I can get myself into contention but my putting has to improve", said Clarke. "If I am to have a realistic chance of winning, that's as straight as I can put it. Tee to green I'm very happy with what I'm doing. Trouble is, seven under is about as bad as it could possibly be.
Today could have been an awful lot better. But at least I had a lot more putts going at the holes but they still managed to dodge and swerve. I spent nearly two hours on the putting green last night with Ewen Murray and Thomas Bjorn.
The longest I holed over the two days was from fifteen feet at the 16th today. I was striking the putts very poorly yesterday while today was better in that regard but it didn't seem to make any difference. The answer is patience which, as you know, is not one of my virtues."
Although Harrington took one shot more than Clarke, he was much happier with his putting and hoped "it was the start of good things to come and not just one day. The weather is pretty good and the course is running fast so it's not that long if you keep the ball in play. You can go at the pins and the greens are reasonably receptive.
To win from here, I definitely need a round in the mid 60s 68 today is okay but in the greater scheme of things you've got to be doing better than that if you are going to win."
Because of the deterioration in the weather in the afternoon, the cut-off mark moved out to two over and among the victims were US TPC champions Adam Scott, three over; Nick Faldo, seven over; Justin Rose, eight over and Colin Montgomerie, nine over.
Everything continues to go wrong for Jean Van de Velde, the Frenchman renowned for his 18th hole antics at the 1999 British Open. This time, he double bogeyed the last to miss out by two when par would have sufficed.
Three of the six-strong Irish challenge fell by the wayside Graeme McDowell, 75 for four over; Damien McGrane, 77 for eight over and 2003 rookie of the year Peter Lawrie, who finished with an 84 and an aggregate of 11 over.
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