Clement clings on to tour hope

What Swiss golfer Julien Clement would give today for a repeat of his firs-round 64 at the Madrid Open.

The 23-year-old is down in 174th place on the European Tour Order of Merit this season and this is his last chance to keep his card for next year.

For that he has to finish first or second and after eight birdies on the opening day – and only one bogey – he led by two overnight from Australian Terry Price and Swede Johan Edfors, himself only 158th on the money list.

Clement has had low rounds before. After a 63 at last year’s Spanish Open he was one off the lead with a round to play, but closed with a 76 and slumped to 44th.

At the same event this year he had another 63, but finished with a 79 and with that dropped to 59th.

He had a 65 at Kingsbarns in the Dunhill Links Championship only two weeks ago but did not even make the cut there.

In fact, he has not made a cut in his last eight events, stretching back to the Irish Open in July.

Clement, the only Swiss player on the circuit, had resigned himself to a return to the qualifying school, and in preparation for that started seeing a sports psychologist this week.

“He told me some things I needed to know,” said Clement.

“I need to be more confident. I know my game is good enough to play low, but I’ve had a very bad season and I had a problem setting some targets.”

Three of Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning side trail behind him going into today’s second round.

Colin Montgomerie needed five birdies in his last eight holes yesterday just to be three strokes back, while tournament favourite Miguel Angel Jimenez was four-over at one point and did well to recover to a one-under 70.

David Howell needs a massive improvement just to be around for the weekend after a four-over 75.