GOLF: One of the worst feelings in golf comes on a Friday afternoon when a player clears out his locker before the last competitor in the field has even teed off. Yesterday, it was Darren Clarke's time to feel that way. An improved second round of 71 - for a midway total of three-over-par 144 - wasn't enough for the Irishman, ranked number 12 in the world, to survive the cut in the Nissan Open at the Riviera club in Los Angeles.
While Japan's Toru Taniguchi shot a second-round 67 for a 36-holes total of nine-under-par 133 to assume the clubhouse lead, one ahead of Brad Faxon, Clarke's mind was already turning towards next week's Accenture World Matchplay Championship at La Costa and a place that has happy memories as the scene of his final win over Tiger Woods in the 2000 version of that event.
Clarke, though, will need to sharpen up if he is to repeat that performance. For the second day running at Riviera he failed to catch fire - and, having started on the 10th, he knew it wasn't to be his day when he had a bogey six at the 11th.
Although he fought back with birdies on the 12th and 14th to turn in one-under, and got to two-under for the round when birdieing the first, any chance he had of surviving the cut disappeared with a bogey at the third and a double-bogey five at the short fourth hole.
Paul McGinley, meanwhile, got off to the perfect start when recording a birdie at his opening hole to move to one-under for the championship having opened his campaign with a 71 on Thursday. For other Europeans, the championship promised even better.
Jose Maria Olazabal failed to reproduce the form of the first round but still managed a 71 for a midway total of 137, four behind Toniguchi, while first-round leader Jesper Parnevik was among the late starters.
Using a new cross-handed putting stroke, which he only developed during Wednesday's pro-am, Parnevik required only 23 putts in an opening round 65 and a complete turnaround in fortune for a player who has played every event this year so far without breaking into the top 10.
LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES (US unless stated): 65 - J Parnevik (Swe); 66 - B Andrade, J-M Olazabal (Spain), D Peoples, T Taniguchi (Jap); 67 - T Armour, D Duval, B Faxon, E Toledo (Mexico), B Tway; 68 - M Clark, C DiMarco, L Donald (Britain), S Hoch, C Howell, S Lowery, D Sutherland; 69 - P Azinger, C Beckman, G Chalmers (Aus), KJ Choi (South Korea), R Cochran, B Estes, S Flesch, C Franco (Parag), E Fryatt (Brit), F Funk, JJ Henry, G Hnatiuk, F Lickliter, L Mattiace, B Mayfair, S McCarron, R Mediate, D Paulson, L Roberts, R Sabbatini (SA), P Stankowski, S Verplank, L Westwood (Brit)
