Clarke’s battle of wounded knee

DARREN CLARKE hopes the old adage that you should beware the injured golfer comes true here this weekend.

Having played himself to within a stroke of the lead at the halfway stage of the Smurfit European Open, the 36-year-old Ulsterman hobbled off the course having aggravated an injury to his left kneecap and had to sit down before he could speak to the assembled media.

The problems he was enduring weren't readily apparent on the golf course, where he struck the ball beautifully and was fully justified in believing that his efforts merited a lot better than a one under par round of 71. Nevertheless, Clarke accepts that he is perfectly positioned on four under going into the weekend, just one adrift of Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and the little-known 29-year-old Welshman Jamie Donaldson. Clarke is joined on four under by last year's Nissan Irish Open champion Brett Rumford; Englishmen Graeme Storm and Jonathan Lomas and another Dane, Anders Hansen, winner of the PGA Championship in 2002.