Clarke feeling good in Augusta
Darren Clarke has made a superb job of trying to treat the Masters as a holiday rather than the tournament that could take his career to a new level.
The Irishman added a two-under 70 to his opening 72 and goes into the weekend well positioned in joint fifth place along with Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Tim Clark.
After a brilliant 67, American Chad Campbell leads at six under by three from first round leader Vijay Singh.
The Fijian’s 74 contained three double bogeys in the blustery conditions to finish tied in joint second with Rocco Mediate and also Fred Couples who, at 46, is trying to take over from Jack Nicklaus as the oldest-ever winner of the title.
Pádraig Harrington and Tiger Woods are only one further back in a tie for 10th, as is 54-year-old Ben Crenshaw remarkably
“After I went to five over yesterday I started shooting for birdies, not pars and I stuck to that today,” said Harrington. “I tried to stay aggressive.”
“I am not being ridiculous or anything. It’s just picking your shots wisely and playing them.
“I drove it well and got myself into position on every hole. It feels like I could have made more.
“I have worked with [American sports psychologist] Bob Rotella on dealing with adversity. I should have been feeling down at five over, but I stayed positive and came back very strongly. He is very pleased with that.
“I am swinging the club better than I have ever swung it.”
Clarke, whose wife Heather has been battling the return of cancer for the past 18 months, birdied the down wind 465-yard last despite his drive finishing in a divot hole.
The Ulsterman also refused to let a visit to Rae’s Creek on the 13th upset his freewheeling mood.
“I am very comfortable and relaxed out there and just taking whatever the course gives me,” commented Clarke, who led by three after an opening 66 three years ago, but then fell away and has still to win a major title.
“I have forgotten what I should be doing and just gone out and hit it. It’s working. It’s probably the most relaxed I have ever been in a major.
“I want to keep the holiday feeling for the weekend at least.”
He was in the Bahamas with his wife last week and added: “Sometimes when you get completely away from the game and hardly touch the clubs it brings back what is really important.
“And golf ain’t that important. I am not bothered about anything. If I make a mistake I make a mistake – and I made a few today.
“There are a lot of people want to win this a lot more than I do. I would love to do it myself, but it’s not that important.”
Clarke, whose opening round contained a holed bunker shot for an eagle three at the second, 16 pars and a double bogey on the short 12th, birdied the eighth and ninth on his return to turn in 35.
Then came eight pars in a row – he salvaged a five on the 13th after his trip to the water – and then at the last hit a nine-iron from the divot hole that spun off a slope down to within three feet of the flag.
David Howell also finished with a birdie for a second successive 71, but said: “I didn’t play great and I am delighted with one under.
“The swing changes I made messed up my iron play. Sod’s law there, but I just kept battling.”
Colin Montgomerie, who had never missed four cuts in a row until his early exit at the Players Championship two weeks ago, came a cropper at the 510-yard 13th.
The eight-time European number one drove through the fairway into the trees, had to lay up and then spun his pitch off the green into the creek.
Having also taken seven at the long second in the first round Montgomerie dropped to four over par and then sent a 28-foot birdie attempt at the 17th six feet past and missed the return.
With a 75 he finished on the five-over-par mark of 149 and five hours later discovered that was one too many.
He could have survived under the rule whereby anybody within 10 strokes of the lead at halfway qualifies for the final 36 holes, but Campbell finished his round with a 15-footer that circled the cup before dropping.
Montgomerie’s shoulders were slumped as he waited to discover his fate and as an Augusta official ushered him to speak to waiting reporters the Scot said: “Just don’t touch me, please.”
On the pitch to the 13th, Montgomerie commented: “It landed exactly where I wanted it to. There was more chance of a birdie and an eagle than a seven.
“You need a bit of fortune here and I had no fortune at all, but never mind.
“I didn’t putt very well – I never do here.
“I had three birdies, two of them tap-ins yesterday and a 10-footer today. That’s not enough.
“You have to make more birdies than that and it means you have to hole a putt and I don’t hole enough putts. There you go.”
Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam missed the cut by bogeying the 17th and Lee Westwood, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle also said goodbye to the famous course for this year, as did Irishman Paul McGinley.
Ireland’s British amateur champion Brian McElhinney exited also, but can take some comfort in being the highest-placed amateur.
“It was a great experience,” said the Donegal man.
:
138 Chad Campbell 71 67
141 Rocco Mediate 68 73, Vijay Singh (Fij) 67 74, Fred Couples 71 70
142 Darren Clarke (Irl) 72 70, Phil Mickelson 70 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 71, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 72, David Howell (Gbr) 71 71
143 Nick O’Hern (Aus) 71 72, Billy Mayfair 71 72, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 73 70, Olin Browne 74 69, Ben Crenshaw 71 72, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 73, Tiger Woods 72 71
144 Stephen Ames (Can) 74 70, Scott Verplank 74 70, Jason Bohn 73 71, Rich Beem 71 73, Mike Weir (Can) 71 73, Arron Oberholser 69 75
145 Justin Leonard 75 70, Ben Curtis 71 74, Stewart Cink 72 73, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 70 75, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 75 70, Davis Love 74 71, Rod Pampling (Aus) 72 73
146 Zach Johnson 7 72, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 72 74, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 75, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 72 74, Adam Scott (Aus) 72 74, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 74, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 76 70, Luke Donald (Gbr) 74 72, Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 73
147 Tim Herron 76 71, Mark Hensby (Aus) 80 67, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 73 74, Larry Mize 75 72, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 76 71
148 Ted Purdy 72 76, Brandt Jobe 72 76, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 75, Jim Furyk 73 75
:
149 Colin Montgomerie (Gbr) 74 75, Bart Bryant 76 73, Thomas Levet (Fra) 78 71, Ben Crane 74 75, Vaughn Taylor 75 74, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 75 74, Ian Woosnam (Gbr) 77 72
150 Lee Westwood (Gbr) 75 75, Peter Lonard (Aus) 76 74, Chris DiMarco 76 74, Todd Hamilton 74 76, David Toms 72 78
151 Joe Ogilvie 74 77, Lucas Glover 73 78, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 75 76, Tom Lehman 76 75, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 77 74
152 Sean O’Hair 76 76, Shaun Micheel 82 70, KJ Choi (Kor) 76 76, Raymond Floyd 79 73
153 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 79 74, John Daly 74 79, Nick Faldo (Gbr) 79 74, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 78 75
154 Mark O’Meara 82 72, Tom Watson 79 75, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 79 75
155 Craig Stadler 77 78, Paul McGinley (Irl) 78 77, (x) Brian McElhinney (Irl) 80 75
156 Mark Calcavecchia 80 76
157 Fred Funk 76 81, (x) Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 80 77
159 David Duval 84 75, (x) Clay Ogden 83 76, Fuzzy Zoeller 78 81
160 (x) Kevin Marsh 79 81, Gary Player 79 81, (x) Dillon Dougherty 82 78
161 Sandy Lyle (Gbr) 80 81
163 Charles Coody 89 74
164 Charles Howell 80 84.
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