IT may be necessary to resort to silver bullets and wooden stakes to kill off Colin Montgomerie as a serious contender for the Order of Merit. Written off last weekend at Montecastillo and dismissed again after an opening 75 at Valderrama on Thursday, he rebounded in style yesterday with a brilliant 67.

Every variety of scoring was there, from a hole in one at the short 12th - his second in successive tournaments - to a double-bogey at the short sixth. "I told you yesterday that I haven't given up," he said afterwards. "Granted, my chances are very slight, but if I can put two 66s together and get to 14 under, you never know. . . . "

Even allowing for Montgomerie's amazing resilience, things are looking better for Darren Clarke by the day. A second round of 70 for 144 at the half-way stage may not quicken pulses, but none of his serious rivals for the Merit title is showing any sparkle either.

Montgomerie is so far back that only victory on Sunday would give him a chance. Meanwhile, if Clarke were to finish last, Lee Westwood would still need to finish no worse than seventh to overtake him. And with non-Merit contenders heading the battle for the top placings, the big money may be out of reach.

On the outward journey, Clarke scrambled furiously to keep a score together. He got up and down on three occasions to save par and then set himself up for the homeward journey with a wonderful par at the ninth.

After a pushed drive, he was forced to move the ball right to left as much as 20 yards in the air. And he did it with a superbly cut two-iron of 180 yards which sent the ball to within 12 feet of the hole, for the shot of the round.

After that, his work seemed a lot easier, especially when he opted for a series of punched shots to cheat the wind. His reward was birdies at the 10th and 11th with putts of only three and six feet and after three-putting the 13th for a bogey, he recovered the stroke at the treacherous 17th.