Irish golfers endure day of misery in US

It was a disastrous day for the Irish at Hilton Head Island today, as all three representatives failed to make the Verizon Heritage cut.

American Jim Furyk moved ominously to the top of the leaderboard at 11 under par.

Darren Clarke struggled to make any headway in his attempt to salvage something after a poor five-over-par opening round of 76.

The Ulsterman birdied both of the par fives on the front nine, the 502-yard second and the 530-yard fifth.

That took him to the turn in 32 and at three over for the tournament knew he had to improve considerably, but when he bogeyed the 444-yard 10th the projected even-par cut looked further away than ever.

And his remote chances of surviving ended when he followed another bogey at the 13th by hitting his tee shot into the lake in front of the 14th green to drop another shot and slump to six over.

Birdie threes at 16 and 18 made his score look more respectable but it was not enough to save him, and he finished four over par.

His fellow Irishman Graeme McDowell also headed home after adding a 75 to yesterday’s 70 to leave him three over.

Paul McGinley fared somewhat better, but his 72 after a first round 70 was not enough to survive the cut either.

Meanwhile, tournament leader Furyk added a four-under-par 67 to his opening 64 to open up a two-shot advantage over the chasing pack, which included Aaron Baddeley, Brian Gay and overnight leader Vaughn Taylor.

The Ryder Cup star carded six birdies with his only two bogeys coming back to back on the par fours at eight and nine.

South African Tim Clark, who had a good three days at last week’s Masters before coming undone over the final nine holes, shot the round of the day with a bogey-free six-under-par 65.