Cabrera hangs on as Clarke charges

SUNSHINE TOUR:The 20-metre putt that ran slowly down the 18th green and dropped into the hole put the icing on a workmanlike second round from overnight leader Angel Cabrera and kept him out in front heading into the weekend

The big-hitting Argentine shot a four-under-par 68 to move to 14-under-par 130 for the tournament and into a two-shot lead ahead of a charging Darren Clarke, who is breathing down his neck after surging up the leaderboard yesterday with seven-under-par 65.

“Yes, that putt made me finish with a smile, but I was playing okay before that,” said Cabrera. “I was already three-under for the round.”

Clarke, who got his round in before the late afternoon weather changed, had four birdies on the front nine and four coming home.

“Sure, I got a huge break with the weather,” said Clarke,

Key to Clarke’s round was his accuracy: “I think I hit 15-16 greens, so I had a lot of chances today and I holed a few,” he said.

He bogeyed just one hole, when he tried to punch a six-iron off the tee at the second. “It was the only bad shot I hit all day,” he said.

“I pushed it a little bit and it came right under the lip of the bunker and I had no shot. I got it out to about 15 feet and the putt just missed.”

He got the dropped shot right back. “It was good to make a birdie straight after dropping a shot, because the four holes prior to the second, I had good birdie chances on all of them and missed,” he recalled.

Sharing third on 11-under-par 133 were the South African trio of Darren Fichardt, Alex Haindl and James Kingston.

Cabrera’s son Federico finished at two under par to make the cut.

US TOUR:Shigeki Maruyama fired four birdies on the front nine en route to a five-under-par 65 and the lead after the first round of the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club in Hawaii.

Geoff Ogilvy, who cruised to a six-stroke victory at the Mercedes-Benz Championship last week, is one of five players one stroke off the lead at four-under 66.

After a bogey on the par-four 12th hole dropped him to four-under, Maruyama recorded pars on four straight holes before birdieing the 17th to take sole possession of the lead.

Following his wire-to-wire win, the fifth of his PGA career, Ogilvy started his round on the back nine with a birdie. The Australian recorded six birdies and two bogeys.

ILGU: Big-time women's amateur golf will be showcased in Cork this year with the announcement yesterday that the Lancôme Irish Women's Close Championship will be held at the Fota Island Resort from Saturday, May 16th, until Wednesday, May 20th.

The championship, originally scheduled for Co Louth, sought a new home following the recent decision by the European Tour to stage the men’s professional Irish Open over the links at the same time.