The rehabilitation of Darren Clarke following his Augusta Masters flop took another small but positive step at the US$200,000 Macau Open earlier yesterday as the big Ulsterman broke par for the first time in the tournament.

Two of his three compatriots joined him in the weekend's final two rounds, but Peter Lawrie crashed out with a disastrous second round 75 to miss the cut by three shots.

Having steadied his troubled ship with a solid, one-over-par 72 on Thursday, Clarke was in more buoyant mood after posting a 70 yesterday for a half-way aggregate total of 142, level par and well inside the cut.

Having birdied the par five second for a second time, Clarke negotiated the rest of the front nine in regulation to reach the turn in one under. A birdie at the first and last of the inward half were cancelled out by bogeys at 11 and 13, to complete a steady, if unspectacular second round in one under.

Best placed Irishman on Thursday, Bryan Omelia, disappointed yesterday with a lacklustre two-over-par 73 to leave him on two-under-par.

But this was nothing in comparison to the hapless Lawrie, who, after a promising start which included two birdies in the first three holes, lost control of his round, and his destiny in the event, with a disastrous, triple-bogey seven at the difficult par four fifth hole.

Unsettled by this cruel blow, Lawrie went from bad to worse with three more bogeys on the back nine to finish on six over par and crash out of the tournament.

The fourth member of the Irish quartet, Richard Coughlan, pulled back from the brink with a creditable two-under-par 69 to give him a halfway total of 143, one over par.