Out of sorts Clarke acknowledges master-class

GOLF: If there was a sense that he felt more like a page boy at the wedding while all eyes were on the groom, Darren Clarke - who played the first two rounds with Tiger Woods - didn't betray any ill feelings. If anything, it was the opposite. The Irishman simply acknowledged the mastery of the world number one and, instead, turned the focus onto his own game as he heads into the weekend playing the ultimate game of catch-up.

"I think I've left my own swing at home," remarked Clarke, who won the English Open last Sunday. "But Tiger is just playing fantastic. He is flushing it and playing great, and is on the worst possible score he can be on. When he plays like this, he is a different class to everyone and I will put my hand up and admit that. The way he is hitting the ball, he is in total control of what he is doing. He just seems to peak himself for the majors and, I would say, playing as well as anyone I have seen."

Such plaudits, though, didn't mean that Clarke was watching and marvelling at what he was witnessing.

"No, I wouldn't say I've got to that stage," remarked Clarke, who shot a second successive 74 for eight-over-par 148, which guaranteed that he would at least be around for the final two rounds.

Clarke didn't feel overawed playing in Tiger's company - "The crowd were great . . . they were cheering Tiger, Chris (DiMarco) and me all the way round and I really enjoyed it," he said - but was disappointed that he didn't manage to maintain the form that saw him win on the European Tour a week ago.

"Last week, I hit every shot out of the middle of the club, and I haven't been able to do that here.

"Mercurial as ever, I suppose," he said. "This is a tough golf course. It is difficult enough when the sun is shining and the ball is running, but the rain just makes it so much tougher. My target for the weekend? To try and improve on eight-over, and that is a big target the way I am playing. I'll try to find a few more fairways and take it from there. It is extremely difficult trying to hang in there and, the way I have been hitting the ball these past couple of days, to be eight-over is still not bad."

At least Clarke had the consolation of preparing himself mentally and physically for the final two rounds, which is more than Paul McGinley could contemplate.

McGinley was like a lost soul after missing the cut for a second time in two US Open appearances. Having made his debut in the championship five years ago, at Congressional in 1997, the Dubliner had improved immensely as a player - up to 48th in the latest world rankings - but his performance here was symptomatic of a dismal run of recent form.

"I was awful," conceded McGinley, almost in wonder at how his form had deserted him after a second round 79 for 14-over-par 154 left him well outside the cut mark. "I'm going through a really rough patch. I have totally lost my form. I hit far too many bad shots and, when you do that at the US Open, you are always going to be punished. The rain was no help, but if you're on your game the course is playable."

This is not a major that McGinley will remember with any degree of fondness, especially on the greens.

Yesterday he had three three-putts and one four-putt, on the 13th. "That was typical of my round," he said of unlucky 13. "My pitch landed six feet from the flag and squirted to 30 feet away," he lamented.