Darren Clarke made bold move up the leaderboard on the second day of the US Masters after shooting a five-under par 67 today.
Having finished with a birdie on the final hole last night, Clarke picked up where he left off by holing a 20 foot birdie putt on the opening hole to kick-start his second round. A run of five pars followed by birdies on seven and eight got the Tyroneman to three-under for the front nine and for the tournament.
The situation improved further on the back nine when the 32-year-old picked up birdies on the 10th and 11th to move to five-under and only three behind the overnight leader Chris DiMarco. Clarke dropped a shot on the par five 15th but immediately corrected it with a birdie at the next before two pars completed an impressive five-under par 67.
While there has been plenty of change at the top of the leaderboard, DiMarco still leads the way. The New Yorker with the unconventional putting stroke, has moved to eight-under after eight holes while Steve Stricker had to settle for second - at the moment - on seven-under after a round of 71. The Accenture World Matchplay champion dropped shots on the 15th and 17th having previously led on nine-under.
The two time Masters champion, Jose Maria Olazabal has moved into a tie for third on six-under, having got to four-under after 15 holes. His efforts have been matched by none other than Tiger Woods. He too is four-under today playing the 14th. Americans Lee Janzen and Kirk Triplett along with last week’s Argentina Open winner Angel Cabrera make up the group currently on six-under.
The defending champion Vijay Singh is two-under for his round and five-under for the tournament having played 16 holes.
Greg Norman experienced a collapse of the highest order this afternoon. The former world number one shot a dismal 10-over 82 for a nine-over total 153.
Padraig Harrington began his round almost an hour ago and the Dubliner picked up a birdie to move to two-over after two holes.