Ryder Cup pair left frustrated in Madrid

Ryder Cup team-mates Darren Clarke and Jose Maria Olazabal battled their frustrations in the third round of the Madrid Open.

While Olazabal won a car for a hole-in-one at the 13th, he admitted that his driving needs attention ahead of next week's Ryder Cup.

Clarke was equally frustrated with his putting after carding a three-under-par 69 that left him 10 shots behind on-course leader Ian Poulter on seven under.

Olazabal's five-under-par 67 left him one shot better than Clarke on eight under and while the Spaniard was happy with the rest of his game, he confessed that he will have to hit more fairways at the K Club to trouble the Americans.

"To be honest, my driving is not working the way I want it too," said Olazabal, who holed out with an eight iron at the 156-yard 13th. "Everything is leaking a little right. It is costing me a lot of opportunities.

"The driver is very important, especially knowing what we are going to be facing next week. The K Club is not like here, where you can advance the ball if you miss the fairway."

Olazabal - who was narrowly beaten to the hole-in-one prize by Carlos Rozzadilla in the 1997 Spanish Open at La Moraleja - plans to work on his driving with his coach Butch Harmon when he gets to Ireland on Monday.

But he added: "What you need more in match play is good driving and good putting.  If you drive well you put the pressure on the other guy.

"And if you make a few putts you are taking advantage of those birdie opportunities. Every now and then you are going to have to save par and if you make those crucial putts that is key. There are no secrets in this game any more.

"We know that consistent play helps, but obviously you have to make putts."

Clarke, who had a putting lesson from Olazabal before his round, admitted that his overall game was not quite as sharp as it had been over the first two rounds.

However, it is his failure to hole putts that is giving him more cause for concern and he hopes to see the ball drop for him in the final round before joining his team-mates on the plane to Dublin from Heathrow on Monday.

After carding five birdies and two bogeys, Clarke said: "I didn't quite play as well today as I did the previous two days. I just got off to a tough start, two-putting again everywhere.

"I was working a little bit on it with Jose there but today my game wasn't quite as good as it has been the last two days, but I will sort that out.

"I have no complaints at all apart from not knocking enough putts in. I am probably too far back now (to win) but I would still like to go out and shoot a good score tomorrow, a 64 or a 63, something like that."

Clarke got off to a slow start and was one over par for his round after five holes before firing an eight iron to six inches at the par-five sixth to get back to level for the day.

He then holed from 10 feet at the ninth to start a run of three birdies in a row but dropped another shot at the 12th, where he pulled his drive behind a lone tree and was forced to take a penalty drop.

He got that shot back at the par five 534-yard 16th, where he hit the green with an eight iron, but again it took him two putts to get the ball in the hole.

Playing in his first event since his wife Heather passed away on August 13th, he added: "On the 12th I was four yards left of the fairway and I am underneath the only tree that is there. I had to take a penalty.

"I was going well. I had just birdied three holes in a row and it was the only poor tee shot I pulled a little bit and had to take a penalty drop. It is frustrating."

Meanwhile, joint overnight leader Padraig Harrington was in the process of compiling a rollercoaster third round.

After starting bogey-double bogey to drop back to 10 under par, the Dubliner birdied the fourth but then double bogeyed the lakeside fifth and birdied the par-five eighth to go out in three-over-par 39.

He was soon back where he started the day on 12 under when he birdied the 10th and eagled the 546 yard 11th.

However, he dropped a shot at the next to fall back to 11 under and six strokes behind Poulter, who birdied the 13th to get to 17 under and six under for his round.

Meath's Damien McGrane was a shot further back from Clarke on six under after dropping back with today's 74. David Higgins carded a 73 to be five under while Peter Lawrie shot his second 69 in as many days to get to four under. Stephen Browne's 71 left him two under.