A marathon session on the putting green helped to transform his game, writes Philip Reid

When you get into the zone, it's hard to escape. On Thursday evening, after he'd finished his first round, and with a compulsion, which he resisted, to break the putter over his knee, Darren Clarke headed to the putting green and was so frustrated that he stayed there for three hours.

He rolled hundreds of putts from various distances and angles into the cup until the nearby clubhouse lights provided greater illumination than the falling sun.

And, then, having missed dinner, he headed off, only to return yesterday morning at six o'clock for another hour-and-a-half of penance. All of which demonstrated not only Clarke's deep desire to win, but just how much time and effort the player is willing to put into achieving it.

But the time spent with coach Peter Cowen worked, as a second round 67 that featured just 27 putts, three fewer than the previous day, brought him back into the thick of things on three-under-par 139.

"I needed to sort out my putting," explained Clarke of why he had spent so much time on the putting green. "On impact, my right hand was breaking down. Or my left hand was breaking down. I just wasn't solid at impact and we worked on hitting putts one handed, both left and right.

"When I came off the course last night, I was tempted to decapitate the putter, but I managed to keep it in one piece. Sometimes I go out onto the range or putting green and waste my time because I'm still quite frustrated at what I have done on the course, whereas this was productive. Sometimes I don't differentiate between the two."

Indeed, an indication of how much his putting improved and of just how absorbed Clarke became in his game was that even the healthy cries of a baby as he stood over an eagle putt on the fifth green yesterday went unheard.

"What baby? I didn't hear anything at all," he was to remark later. When you're in the zone, you're in it.

"I knew I had to go out there and play well to get back into the championship," insisted Clarke.

Which is exactly what he managed to do. That successful eagle putt on the fifth meant he covered the first five holes in four-under and, if the momentum wasn't quite as good on the homeward run, it nevertheless constituted a good day's work. In fact, evidence of his resilience came with a number of clutch par putts on the way home, particularly on the 12th and 18th greens.

The one on the final green was particularly important. "If he sinks this, it will set the tone for the week," remarked his manager Chubby Chandler, watching from the back of the green. And Clarke duly obliged.

"I was delighted to knock that one in," he admitted, "or I'd have been very disappointed indeed."

Having put his approach on the back section of the 18th green, he was faced with a first putt that required him to aim eight feet left of the hole. "It felt like I had to hit it up the hill and down, and off the edge of a precipice and down there," he added.

The ball very nearly found the hole, but once it missed, it didn't stop until it was 12 feet away. The one back was a huge putt to hole.

"If, as is forecast, the wind blows over the weekend, you won't see as many people bunched at the top of the leaderboard. My strategy? Just to keep on doing what I am doing.

"I think to give myself a really good chance I have got to improve my swing a little bit. I'm not quite hitting it as solidly as I would like. I feel that I have to improve my ball-striking and keep my putting the way it is, and hopefully I will have a chance," said Clarke.

For now, Clarke has accomplished the first of his three-part mission; to get into contention. Saturday is traditionally moving day in a major, and that's when the second part has to be achieved. But Sunday, the final part, is the most critical of them all.