Clarke resumes repair job

There was a lot of damage to be repaired, but Darren Clarke did as good a job as he could reasonably have been expected to when he resumed the Volvo Masters at Valderrama today.

A shocking 11 on the 17th hole of his second round had sent the Ulsterman tumbling from joint leader to joint 25th in 10 horrible minutes yesterday.

Setting off again at three over par this morning Clarke was nine adrift of Sergio Garcia – himself involved in drama in reaching halfway one ahead of Scot Alastair Forsyth – but the deficit was quickly reduced to six with birdies at the second, fourth and fifth.

Four pars followed for an outward 32 – 10 better than England’s Miles Tunnicliff managed as he fell to last of the 54 players on 19 over par, having already had scores of nine and eight on the dreaded 17th.

Tunnicliff managed a par five on his return to the scene, but finished with an 81.

Colin Montgomerie was out in 33 and even after adding a two on the 225-yard 15th to be three under for the day like Clarke, he still looked too far back to be even a contender for a title he has won twice. The seven-time Order of Merit winner stood four over.

Garcia was favourite to put his name on the trophy after a rules inquiry which for a few anxious moments looked as if it might result in his disqualification.

At the short third hole on the second day Garcia had gone into the trees and, having told playing partner Jose Manuel Lara that he was playing a provisional ball, hit it to 12 feet.

He then said to his caddie they were not going to look for the original one and two-putted for a double-bogey five.

Later, however, officials were informed the first ball had been found in bounds and if Garcia was informed of that at the time then he was not allowed to continue with the provisional ball and he faced being thrown out.

Chief referee John Paramor admitted he found it “bizarre in the extreme” that not one of around 500 fans had brought it to Garcia’s attention, but that is what the Ryder Cup star said, there was no evidence to the contrary and so there was no punishment.

What mattered most to Garcia, he insisted, was not that he stayed in the tournament, but that he was clearly innocent.

“That’s a bigger prize than the Volvo Masters, a major or any tournament – I couldn’t live with myself. The most important thing was not feeling bad within myself.”

Garcia's lead instantly went from one to two with Forsyth going over the first green, leaving his chip nine feet short and lipping out.

The Scottish golfer, only 130th in the world against Garcia’s 10th, was in danger of going further behind on the next when he again went long. But he saved par and Garcia bunkered his approach and missed a four-footer to slip back to five under.

France’s Christian Cevaer had joined Forsyth on four under with a 12-footer at the first, but Poulter was two behind with Argentina’s Angel Cabrera after three-putting the third.

Garcia did save par from more sand on the third, then holed an eight-foot birdie putt at the 563-yard next to be two clear again.

Clarke did not play the 17th in textbook fashion, but a chip-and-putt five was a six-stroke improvement on 24 hours earlier and, having made two on the 15th, he was one under and joint leader.