There were sharply contrasting fortunes for Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke here at Royal Zoute yesterday, with the Dubliner shooting 67 to lie just one off the lead, lead, which was held by unheralded American Tom Gillis on 131, while Clarke was heading for home after missing the cut.
Clarke shot a second successive 73, which included a double-bogey at his eighth hole, to make his exit. The Tyroneman's mind is no doubt on the expected arrival of a second child next week.
It was the first occasion since last year's US PGA Championship that Clarke, the current leader of the European Order of Merit, has failed to make a European Tour cut, a run of 25 appearances.
Harrington, chasing a second Tour victory this season, opened his round by grabbing the lead with a hat-trick of birdies. The 29-year-old revealed he had no concerns with a neck injury that bothered him on day one of the event.
Paul McGinley also had a satisfactory day, shooting his second successive 68 to lie just five shots off the lead, while Eamon Darcy also added a 68 to his first-round 71 to lie three shots further back. Des Smyth (74) and Gary Murphy (72) both did enough to make the cut-off mark of even-par 142.
The new leader, Tom Gillis, who shot 64 yesterday, said afterwards that an 8,000-mile round trip for four days' fishing put the charge back in his batteries. The Michigan player's only victories in 10 years as a professional have come on America's Hooters Tour and in the Jamaican Open. After missed cuts in the Munich International and European Masters he was perched dangerously close to the Tour card qualifying mark in 106th place with £80,000 sterling in winnings.
"I was leaking oil again and under all kinds of pressure but I decided not to sit around waiting to see if I got into last week's Paris tournament and just hopped on to a plane home to Michigan," declared Gillis.
"I hitched my boat to the back of my car and drove 200 miles north to a resort where a friend is head pro and fished in the mornings, catching 11 pike in two days, and practised golf in the afternoons. A lot of people thought I was crazy going all that way just for a week but I'm a Michigan boy and I needed to get home."
He said he had failed in seven attempts to get his US Tour card. "Now my aim is to try and win here like another American, Bob May, did to gain exemption to the final stages of the US school - he went on to take Tiger Woods to a playoff in this year's US PGA Championship."
Clarke's exit opened the door for Lee Westwood, who scored a 69 to be three off the lead on 134. If he goes on to finish first or second tomorrow he would go past Clarke to the top of the table.
"It's nice to be in there with a chance. Whether I am first or last, I am still trying 100 per cent but it is nice to be in there and in the hunt," Westwood said. A 69 for 138 also kept alive fourth in the table Colin Montgomerie's hopes of a fast finish to the year to lift an eighth successive order of merit title.
