Darren Clarke left the Nord Eichenried course a frustrated man yesterday after a series of pushed drives and a couple of niggling three putts left him seven strokes away from the BMW International leader Thomas Bjorn.
But his friend and stablemate Paul McGinley left Munich altogether, his emotions having been first horror and then dismay.
While Clarke has a building job on this weekend to at least find the second place which will take him to European number one, after a round of 70 for six-underpar, left him also four behind second-placed Sven Struver and three adrift of Bernhard Langer, McGinley will be counting the cost of a women's spectator's sore head.
The Dubliner came to the last needing at least a par to stay alive and looked more than capable of achieving that when he crashed in a three-wood which should have done no worse than land his ball in the greenside bunker for a more than even chance of birdie.
Instead, with spectators crushed forward by a giant screen and scoreboard next to the bunker, a woman spectator took the full force of McGinley's ball and before collapsing, nodded it into the adjacent pond.
When McGinley rushed up, the woman had already been carried off and it was hardly surprising the unsettled Irishman missed a six-foot par-save after taking penalty. His 73 for one-under, left him crushingly one worse than the cut.
The woman was not seriously hurt and released from hospital after treatment.
Ian Woosnam also missed by one, although the biggest head to roll belonged to that of Colin Montgomerie.
Eamonn Darcy continued his twilight revival, carding a 71 to be only a shot behind Clarke on five-under-par.
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