Golf:A contrast of light and dark summed up the respective press conferences of Ulster duo Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell after their vastly differing experiences at Royal St George's today

Clarke shot a second successive 68 to move into a tie of the lead on four under with American Lucas Glover, while McDowell went crashing out of the British Open after posting a 77 for five over.

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Clarke has not had a top-10 finish in a Major since he was third at Royal Lytham a decade ago and he was pleading caution going into the weekend.

“It would mean an awful lot, but obviously this is only after two rounds there is an awful long way to go yet,” said Clarke

“And I believe the forecast for the weekend is very, very poor. I quite look forward to that, but the course is going to play very, very tough.

“If that’s the case, then the tournament is still wide open for an awful lot of players and will be.”

He described his round as “adventurous”. He birdied the short third, double-bogeyed the next after a chip came back down a bank to him, but then rolled in an eagle putt of around 80 feet at the long seventh.

He went joint top with a birdie on the eighth, bogeyed the 10th, birdied the 12th and 13th, took six on the 547-yard next after pitching over the green, then failed to get up and down from sand on the 16th.

Clarke finished on a high, though, cutting in a seven-iron at the last and making the 20-footer.

McDowell, meanwhile, admitted his mental state was not right and he had to work out how to correct it.

“I was ready for this tournament but by the time I walked off the first green yesterday I wasn’t ready any more, it’s very frustrating,” he said.

“I’ve always enjoyed the mental side of the game but I wouldn’t say I’m enjoying it so much right now because I’m a bit of a mental case out there.

“I need an attitude readjustment. I need to care a bit less about the game. My attitude has been pretty average the last two days, just not having a lot of belief or confidence in myself.

“I’ve been doing a little work with Bob Rotella (the leading golf sports psychologist that Clarke also sees) so maybe I need to do a little more, get on the couch and tell him all my problems.

“You can’t wait for the golf ball to make you feel happy because it ain’t going to make you feel happy every day.”

McDowell accepts that nothing has been able to measure up to his US Open win and that he may be trying too hard in an attempt to replicate that.

“It’s hard not to compare to last year. I didn’t set out in 2011 trying to eclipse 2010 but deep inside I know I can do it, so maybe I want it too badly,” he added.

“This is The Open. We are under pressure. We want to do well maybe I’ve been trying a little too hard the last couple days.”