Clarke unable to move clear

As Darren Clarke's influenza eased yesterday at the Forest of Arden, he was left looking for a cure instead to putting ills which cost him the outright lead in the British Masters. The Ulsterman, looking to seal a second win of the year and put some daylight between himself and the rest of Europe on top of the rankings tomorrow night, laid the blame on a fading second round of one-under-par 71 firmly at the feet of his putter.

On six-under-par he now shares the one-shot lead with Spain's Carl Suneson, who is recovering from a real illness, thyroid gland disorder.

Just behind the leaders are Sweden's Jarmo Sandelin and the amiable veteran from Argentina, Eduardo Romero.

"That's another fine example of taking as many shots as I possibly can," Clarke said after signing for a 71. "I missed chances all day, everywhere. The 15th was the first green I missed, so I should have made much more of my opportunities. I had a couple of 20-footers for birdies, but everything else was easily holeable. "I left so many chances out there. I had 32 putts and it wasn't the number which annoyed me but the length of most of them. I had a dozen inside 10ft at least. Normally I'd expect to hole about half of them. Knock in half and you're flying."

He is still flying on the order of merit stakes, however, because the man he hopes to replace on top, Lee Westwood, helped him out by double-bogeying the last to remain five strokes adrift of him.

That would have been two better but for a couple of strokes of bad luck for Clarke at the end of his round, to go with the halfdozen he felt he should have made on the greens, so his round could have been a 63.

He found his ball plugged badly under the lip of a bunker on the 15th, and on the 16th he clipped a tree when trying to cut the corner. Both cost bogeys.

Possibly Clarke's greatest danger will come from Ian Woosnam. The little Welshman incorporated a rather bizarre cure for his putting ills to move from six-overpar after seven to three-under by the 18th with a 66 which needed only 28 strokes coming home. He changed his putting stance at the turn after remembering how he kept tweeking his putts right in practice - standing on his snooker table at his Jersey home.

There will be no danger from fellow Irishmen this weekend. The remaining four all missed the cut. Padraig Harrington lost his chance when his putter went cold, too, on the home stretch for a 73.

Paul McGinley was forced to retire after waking up with a cricked neck. He sought treatment at the touring physiotherapy bus but the problem was too acute for him to appear for the second round.

He was advised two days' complete rest by touring physiotherapist Guy Delacave and will need further treatment on Monday at home before travelling to the Lancome Trophy, but his appearance next week is in doubt.

Also taking an early exit were Raymond Burns, David Higgins and Cameron Clark.

While Higgins has opted to go to the Manchester pre-qualifier next week for Tour school, Burns will soldier on to try to make enough to keep his card, hoping for a miracle in Versailles next week.