Clarke hopes to bridge 39 year gap

DARREN CLARKE will be attempting to bridge a 39 year gap today when he plays with Ian Woosnam in the final pairing of the £1.1 million Volvo PGA Championship here on the West Course. With a best of the day 66 in yesterday's third round, Clarke moved into second place on 10 under par, a stroke behind the Welshman.

There has been only one Irish winner of this prestigious event, and that was back in 1958 when Harry Bradshaw was victorious at Llandudno. Since then, Eamonn Darcy and Des Smyth were beaten in play offs for the title.

The weather was ideal for low scoring yesterday, but several leading challengers, Woosnam among them, experienced problems with some odd breaks on firm greens. So it was ironic that Clarke's prominence should have owed much to a very productive afternoon with the blade.

"I putted really nicely, particularly early on," he said, referring to a sparkling start of four successive birdies. In fact he had 28 putts for a round that included a chipin birdie from off the back of the 16th. This compared with 34 putts in a 74 on Saturday and 29 in the opening round".

The Ulsterman was joint leader day, when he shared the lead with Darcy on 66.

him to nine under par. Ironically, it was three time World Matchplay champion Els who struggled over the closing holes while the other pair made further headway.

The 1994 US Open champion, who is an accepted specialist around this formidable stretch, said afterwards: "Two behind at this stage, I obviously need another good round tomorrow - and maybe the same sort of weather." He and Nick Faldo are in the penultimate pairing today.

Meanwhile, poor driving made it a miserable exercise for Darcy, who carded two double bogeys in a round of 76. The second of these came at the 16th where he pulled a three wood tee shot into trees from where he was forced to take a penalty stroke.

But Philip Walton fared considerably better to move into a share of 10th place with Eduardo Romero, six strokes off the lead. Highlight of Walton's round of 70 was a spectacular eagle three at the last, where he hit a long, low five iron of 212 yards to 30 feet short of the pin and then rolled in the putt.

The Malahide player was in a position to challenge the leaders when he moved to five under with six holes to play, but bogeys at the 13th (hooked drive) and 14th (poor chip), stifled his ambition. "I'll be in there fighting for a high finish," he said.