Clark in four-way tie for lead

South African Tim Clark made made strides today in the SAA Open and now is part of a four-way tie at the top at nine under.

Clark won the tournament the last time it was held at the Royal Durban Country Club and used his knowledge of his home club well.

He played a flawless front nine and picked up three birdies in a row between holes five and seven to move to eight under, one behind joint leaders and compatriots Titch Moore and Hendrik Buhrmann.

Buhrmann had the best of it out of the leading pair, with two birdies moving him to the top of the leaderboard while Moore initially birdied three, then struggled with a chip into the green to drop a shot on seven.

Englishman Lee Slattery had a good opening nine, but then dropped shots to be five under after 15 holes and the first foreign challenger for the title.

Ryder Cup team-mates David Howell and Darren Clarke had sensational mornings after two ordinary opening rounds to both post 67s and move back into contention for the title.

Howell’s round in particular, lifted him to six under for the tournament, just three off the pace while Clarke is further back now on three under.

After sinking a 30-foot eagle putt to barely make the cut yesterday, Clarke initially started off badly by dropping a shot on the first hole, and then sunk further back with another drop on six.

However, he stormed back with birdies on seven and eight to turn on even par for the round before finding the rub of the green on the back nine.

A five iron put him within 20 feet of the pin on 10, where he two putted for a birdie. It was a similar story at the 13th and an excellent three wood put the ball within 12 feet on 14 to add another.

Three more birdies in the last four holes gave him a 31 on the back nine and left him three under for the tournament.

“That was better,” Clarke said.

“In fact if I had holed a few more putts, especially on the outward half, it might have even been better than 67. But I am pleased with that and especially the inward half. I hadn’t really been playing that badly on the first two days but I just couldn’t get the ball in the hole.

“I found something on the greens today in the latter half of my round. It was a pity to make a bogey on the 17th from a position I really should have had but as I said, apart from that I’m pretty pleased.”