Clarke regains lead in Wentworth

Darren Clarke birdied both closing holes in the second round to regain the pole position he held after his opening 66.

“I played very well again,” said the Ulsterman. “I hit the ball every bit as well, but once again I wielded the putter many times.

“I burnt the edges all day and my patience is being severely tested, but I don’t want to dwell on it.

“I think a win is coming. Whether it’s this week or not I don’t know, but I’m hitting an awful lot of shots off the middle of the clubface.”

One behind Clarke in second place was Swede Niclas Fasth, another member of last September’s Ryder Cup team, while alongside Rock was twice winner Ian Woosnam, Dane Soren Hansen and Geordie Kenneth Ferrie, who grabbed his first European tour title in Tenerife four weeks ago.

Els and Faldo also birdied the last two to reach six under and five under respectively, but Montgomerie went out of bounds at the 17th to leave himself four behind Clarke.

The main memory of the day for those who watched the Scot from start to finish, though, was the opening hole. They saw a shot they will never forget.

He badly hooked his opening drive and the ball finished a foot behind a tree. Any amateur golfer seeing the position would automatically have just chipped back onto the fairway, fearing both damage to the club and injury to himself.

But Montgomerie, trying for a fourth victory in the event in five years, was having none of it and made a decision that brought back memories of Sergio Garcia’s shot from the base of a tree in the 1999 US PGA championship.

He turned to caddie Andy Prodger – the man he is getting rid of after this week – and said: “How much do shafts cost?”

That had the crowd laughing, but then he told them: “Seriously now, stand well back and watch the club, not the ball on this one. It could go anywhere.”

After deliberating between a three-iron and a five-wood, knowing whichever one he went for would be broken a few seconds later, he chose the latter and, sure enough, the head came off and went flying some 50 yards as he played the daring shot.

Then the fans looked to see where the ball went – and the answer was over 200 yards just short of the green.

“Let’s get one thing clear here, I didn’t do that in anger,” he said as he walked down the fairway with a smile on his face, relieved that both the shot came off and he had not hurt himself.

Montgomerie then saved his par and played the next four holes with only 13 clubs before a replacement was brought out to him.

Wentworth Scores

135 Darren Clarke 66 69

136 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 69 67

137 Ian Woosnam 68 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 68, Robert Rock 69 68, Kenneth Ferrie 70 67

138 Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 69, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 69, Alastair Forsyth 67 71, Gordon Brand Jnr 68 70

139 David Gilford 70 69, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 72 67, Paul McGinley 70 69, Colin Montgomerie 69 70, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 68 71, Nick Faldo 71 68, Thongchai Jaidee (Thai) 67 72, Andrew Coltart 68 71, Kevin Na (S Kor) 69 70

140 Marten Olander (Swe) 73 67, Phillip Price 71 69, Roger Chapman 71 69, Jamie Donaldson 69 71, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 71 69

141 Peter Baker 68 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 73, John Bickerton 72 69, Sam Torrance 70 71, Peter Senior (Aus) 68 73, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 71 70, Barry Austin 73 68, Justin Rose 68 73

142 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 73 69, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 73 69, Paul Casey 70 72, Miles Tunnicliff 69 73, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 73, Nick O’Hern (Aus) 73 69, Greg Turner (Nzl) 72 70, David Orr 72 70, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 69 73, Anders Hansen (Den) 70 72

143 Stephen Dodd 71 72, David Drysdale 72 71, Santiago Luna (Spa) 72 71, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 71 72, Sandy Lyle 75 68, Steen Tinning (Den) 74 69, Paul Eales 74 69, Matthew Blackey 70 73, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 69 74, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 72 71

144 David Howell 74 70, Jamie Spence 75 69, Malcolm Mackenzie 77 67, Richard Green (Aus) 72 72, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 73 71, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 73 71, Neil Cheetham 70 74, Richard Bland 69 75, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 74 70, Paul Lawrie 71 73, Graeme McDowell 68 76, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 73, Bradley Dredge 71 73

145 David Lynn 75 70, Per Nyman (Swe) 75 70, Sven Struver (Ger) 72 73, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 72 73, Mark Pilkington 74 71, Jonathan Lomas 73 72, Marc Farry (Fra) 73 72, Jorge Berendt (Arg) 73 72

146 Ian Garbutt 76 70, Stephen Gallacher 71 75, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 75 71, David Carter 74 72, Anthony Wall 72 74, Peter O’Malley (Aus) 71 75

147 Glenn Ralph 76 71, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 77 70, Simon Wakefield 74 73, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 75 72, David Park 76 71, Gary Evans 74 73

148 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 75 73, Richard Johnson (Swe) 76 72, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 71 77, Simon Hurd 76 72

149 Philip Archer 80 69, Gary Emerson 79 70, Lee Westwood 75 74, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 72 77

150 Paul Simpson 74 76, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 77 73, Adam Mednick (Swe) 72 78, Brian Davis 79 71

151 Lee James 78 73, Tony Johnstone (Zim) 75 76

152 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 74 78

153 Anders Forsbrand (Swe) 74 79, Pat Winston 75 78, Chris Hall 79 74, Martyn Thompson 74 79, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 75 78

154 Brendan McGovern 78 76

155 Steve Webster 79 76

156 Jason Levermore 78 78

157 Paul Way 80 77

158 Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 75 83

171 Mark James 83 88

Withdrew Rolf Muntz (Ned)