Golf:There will be no Darren Clarke or Pádraig Harrington for the expected huge crowds to cheer on in the last two rounds of the Irish Open in Killarney.

In his first start since his dream British Open Championship victory at Sandwich 42-year-old Clarke dropped four shots in the last eight holes for a 74 and one over aggregate.

Three-major winner Harrington had little hope after double-bogeying the short sixth and with a 72 crashed out on three over.

That is now back-to-back missed cuts for the Dubliner before he heads back to America and, already down to 64th in the world, he is likely to fall even further now.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s only a game,” stated Harrington. “There’s no doubt that changes are required for the sake of it rather than anything else.

“I’m doing everything I would have done when I was winning majors, it’s just something fresh is needed. You need a bit of spark somewhere.

“Even on my worst days I’m not too bad. It’s not like I’m shooting 77-78 sort of thing, but momentum is an important thing and I don’t have it at the moment.

“I’m not thinking of changing personnel. I’ve got to change something in myself, attitude or something along the lines of that. I’m not taking time off I like playing golf.”

Clarke admitted his mental energy levels were down after a bout of ‘flu followed his post-Open celebrations.

“I just couldn’t get anything going,” he commented. “A weekend off is not what I wanted. It probably won’t do me any harm, albeit I would much prefer to be here to play.

“A couple of things went my way over at Sandwich and here bounces went the other way. Payback time I suppose. I didn’t have much time off after The Open, but that’s no excuse for shooting 74.”