Players Championship: Philip Reid talks to a frustrated Darren Clarke who just can't get his putting stroke going at Sawgrass

The dyed strands of hair struggled in vain to escape from under the visor. Darren Clarke was immune to their futile efforts, his eyes instead focusing on the microphones thrust under his face and occasionally wandering across the man-made lake from this enclosed place beside the recorder's cabin to the practice putting green. It's where he really wanted to be.

If only his putter hadn't deserted him. If only!!! At least Clarke had survived the cut in the Players Championship, avoiding the punishment inflicted on Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley.

But the lure of the putting green, with its hours of work and the salvation it offered heading into the final two rounds, was all that was on the Dungannon man's mind as he reflected on a second round 70 that left him on one-under-par 141.

"Do you know," he said, "I played really well, that 70 was comfortably the worst score I could have shot. I'd a really bad day with the putter. I missed from four feet, five feet, eight feet, 10 feet, 15 feet. I missed every one of them. The greens were so pure there was no excuse for missing putts, but I was pulling them all day and couldn't quite rectify it."

Clarke has had an up-and-down relationship with Sawgrass. It's a course that should suit his game, but his only top-10 finish came in 2003 and he has missed the cut three times in nine appearances.

Yet, he only has to cast his mind back to Bay Hill a week ago, when he shot a 63 in the third round to catapult up the leaderboard, to know that his game - despite the obvious distractions of worrying about the health of his wife Heather - is capable of instant turnarounds.

Indeed, rather than head to the clubhouse for nourishment after his round, Clarke headed instead for the putting greens with his caddie Billy Foster and coach Peter Cowan where he claimed an isolated area and worked studiously on his putting stroke for a number of hours.

Yesterday's second round consisted of five birdies and three bogeys, the most painful being a three-putt bogey on the 18th that summed up his woes with the putter.

"I drove the ball really well, just had too many silly mistakes," said Clarke, who had 32 putts in his round. "This is a big tournament, and I didn't want to miss the cut. If you take it I was four over after 12 holes (in the first round), I have done alright to get back.

"Yesterday was a tough day, today I actually played really well. If I can keep doing that, hopefully some putts will start to drop."

In some contrast, Harrington's demeanour was one of slight puzzlement. For the first time in six appearances in the Players, he would have a free weekend after a second successive 73 for 146, two over par, left him missing the cut. It was the first cut that Harrington has missed on tour since the German Masters last September.

Much of Harrington's damage was inflicted early on in his second round, a bogey at the first followed by a double-bogey six on the fourth.

Although he picked up four birdies subsequently, he also had an additional two bogeys that ultimately proved too much of a burden.

The double-bogey on the fourth was a real killer blow, where what he termed a "decent tee shot, crawled through the fairway" and nestled into the rough.

"Another day, it would have finished in the fairway and you're making birdie," remarked Harrington. This time, his recovery from the rough plugged in a greenside bunker from where his next shot was played through the green. A chip and two putts later and Harrington's task to survive had grown hugely.

"You never like missing the cut," said Harrington, adding: "I'm quite happy with how I'm swinging it. But I'd like to be reading the greens better. I am putting a lot of doubt in myself and I am not holing putts because of it. I could do with being a bit more positive with my reading and a bit more positive with my chipping. Those are the two things."

Harrington has decided to stay on in Sawgrass for the weekend for practice, before heading to Atlanta for next week's BellSouth Classic at the TPC at Sugarloaf.

"I always like playing the week before the Masters, and I do need to be on the golf course playing. I need that competitive edge, without a doubt."