Clarke struggles in wet and windy Kilkenny

Darren Clarke, hoping to complete a full set of World Golf Championship solo victories, did not look like a player ready to do it at Mount Juliet today.

On a foul, wet and windy day in Co Kilkenny the Ulsterman resumed the American Express championship by bogeying the first three holes – and did well to limit the damage to that.

Clarke failed to get up and down from bunkers on the opening two, then followed Davis Love, Darren Fichardt and Yong-eun Yang by putting his tee shot into the lake at the dangerous short third.

Unlike them, however, he avoided a double bogey, hitting his next ball from the drop zone to seven feet and making the putt for a four.

But, after starting his opening 71 yesterday with 15 successive pars Clarke, winner of the World Match Play in California in 2000 and NEC Invitational in Ohio last year, was on a different sort of run and was relieved to end it with a par on the next.

At two over par, however, he had fallen eight adrift of Open champion Todd Hamilton, who led by one overnight from three of Europe’s Ryder Cup team – Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jimenez – American Steve Flesch and Australians Adam Scott and Stuart Appleby.

Tiger Woods was only two back - remarkably so, given the pain he was suffering from a problem between his shoulder blades.

Fred Couples, a man who knows all about injuries, was showing what was possible in the awful conditions, though.

Two days away from his 45th birthday Couples turned in 33 with birdies at the third, fifth and eighth. After a first round 73 he was still four behind and only 27th.

Alongside him was another of the Detroit heroes Paul Casey, who after bogeying the third birdied the next three.

Couples was on in two at the 569-yard 10th and two-putted, then made a 12-footer on the next for his fifth birdie of what was fast becoming an astonishing round.

Joint 53rd of the 68 players at the start of the day, he was up to joint eighth and only two behind Hamilton, who had yet to tee off.

Clarke, meanwhile, had his first birdie at the par-five fifth, but three-putted the next and went back to two over.