Clarke slips after super start

It was another case of what might have been for Darren Clarke in Spain today.

Three days after slipping from fourth to seventh in the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, Clarke burst to the turn in a superb five-under-par 31 in the Madrid Masters at Centro Nacional.

But then came bogeys at the second, fifth and eighth, and even with a closing birdie the 40-year-old Ryder Cup star – without a win this season after two last year – had to settle for a three-under 69.

That left him in a tie for 14th, three strokes behind joint leaders Ross McGowan, David Horsey, Danny Willett and David Drysdale midway through the day’s play.

McGowan, who earned over £100,000 (€108,000) for sixth place on Monday, reached seven under with one to play, but then dropped his only stroke of the round at the 183-yard ninth.

Horsey and Willett, team-mates of Rory McIlroy in the 2007 Walker Cup against the Americans, are both seeking their first European Tour wins like McGowan.

Willett did not drop a stroke, while Horsey was only one under with seven to play but then had five successive birdies.

Drysdale, who two weeks ago helped Scotland qualify for the World Cup in China next month and will partner Alastair Forsyth there, eagled the 530-yard fifth and with two to play had the chance to claim the outright lead.

Favourites Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald were among the later starters.

Garcia has had not a top-three finish all year and has dropped from second in the world – he even had a chance to topple Tiger Woods in March – to eighth.

Donald was the 54-hole leader at St Andrews and on course for his first win in over three and a half years, but a 73 saw him drop back alongside Clarke.

Jose Maria Olazabal, partnering Clarke, could managed only a three-over 75 after his approach to the eighth – his 17th – bounded out of bounds off a cart path and led to a triple-bogey seven.