Clarke poised for a big weekend

GOLF News: Darren Clarke is poised for a big weekend at the Bay Hill Invitational in Florida after adding a second round 68 to his opening 66 to finish on 10-under-par 134.

That leaves the Dungannon golfer in joint second place, two shots behind Japan's Shigeki Maruyama, who fired a second consecutive 66 to lie on 12-under.

And Sergio Garcia, still striving for the elusive consistency for which he changed his swing, recovered some lost ground in the second round.

The Spaniard, who has slipped out of the world's top 10 to number 38, had an ordinary 73 in the first round but four successive birdies from the third yesterday moved him to three-under for the tournament and gave him a platform for better things.

When he birdied the 11th and 12th to move to five-under he also moved on to the leaderboard, albeit a long way behind Maruyama, a three-time winner on the US Tour.

Tiger Woods, who slipped back to three-under after a 74, has revealed he will be rewarding himself after next month's US Masters in a way unique for a top golfer. He has arranged, through his father Earl, to spend five days at "boot camp" where he will go through the initial training procedures to which new army recruits are subjected.

"I've wanted to do this ever since I was a little boy," Tiger said yesterday.

Meanwhile, in the Toshiba Senior Classic in Newport B each, California, on the US Champions Tour, Eamonn Darcy fired a level par 71 to be four shots off the early pacesetter Tom Purtzer. Des Smyth and Mark McNulty were late starters.

On the European Seniors Tour, at the Tobago Plantations Seniors Classic, Denis O'Sullivan was tied for 23rd place, four shots off the pace set by John Grace of America, who led after yesterday's first round on three-under-par 69. John Curtis crashed to a 78.

Bay Hill Leaderboard

132 - Shigeki Maruyama66 66

134 - Darren Clarke 66 68

Chad Campbell66 68

135 - Zach Johnson67 68

Stuart Appleby 67 67

136 - Scott Verplank 68 68

Lee Janzen70 66