Three of the usual suspects, including Argentina's Angel Cabrera, were in a six-way tie for the lead when the halfway stage was reached here yesterday in the Smurfit European Open. In the process, a toughened venue could lay claim to one of the terror holes of European golf.

Neither Darren Clarke nor Lee Westwood among the leaders, could escape the clutches of the menacing 17th hole. Even Colin Montgomerie, widely acknowledged as the straightest hitter on tour, dropped a stroke there to be pushed back into a share of seventh place.

Former Ryder Cup player Peter Baker paid the costliest price of all. Unable to avoid the magnetic attraction of Anna Livia off the tee, he hit three drives and later a recovery shot from rough to a watery grave, en route to a stunning 12. And the ultimate irony was that he finished the round with a birdie at the 18th for an 84.

Unquestionably the most difficult hole on the course, it yielded only 14 birdies from the field of 156 while playing to a stroke-average of 4.744. On the debit side, there were 48 bogeys, 23 double-bogeys and 10 "others". The source of grief lay largely in the fact that only 54.9 per cent of players managed to hit the fairway which, despite its width of 35 yards, proved to be a decidedly elusive target into a fresh breeze from the right. But it was the second shot which caused problems for Westwood when his approach was pulled into the Liffey while carding a double-bogey six.

This is the old eighth hole where a new back tee has given it an additional 49 yards, making a driver off the tee an absolute requirement, if the player is not to face a medium to long-iron second shot. Though measuring an innocent-looking 424 yards, it became critical to the survival of several border-line challengers.

As it happened, the halfway cut was made on three-over-par on which 72 survived, including five Irishmen. This was quite a contrast to last year's tournament when the halfway target was a decidedly tight 143 - one under par.

Montgomerie, who had produced formidable form in an opening 67, was decidedly lacking in bonhomie after a dispiriting 73. "I played very poorly; I putted poorly and I was unlucky on the last two holes," he said. "Nothing happened."

A par, birdie finish would have given him the lead. But he made the poor choice of a three-wood for a delicate chip on the 17th where the ball was hit clumsily through the green. Then, down the last, an overzealous second shot overran the green from where the Scot failed to get up and down.

The presence of Cabrera among the leaders is interesting for the regular prominence of Argentinian players in this event. As many as five of them were in the top 45 last year, when Cabrera and Jose Coceres shared sixth place behind Westwood. Even more interesting is the fact that Cabrera finished fifth here in 1998.

As it happened, the biggest galleries of the day followed the afternoon groupings in which Clarke followed Montgomerie. There were considerably fewer bodies around when Westwood was making his mark with a lunchtime finish of 68.

"That was quite close to my best," said the Englishman. "My all-round game is pretty sharp and I now have a good variety of shots." He went on: "I played some lovely shots out there, particularly a delicate pitch over a bunker to four feet at the long fourth."

It seems remarkable to hear the current world number six admit to having been a decidedly poor chipper and pitcher of the ball until he went for a lesson to Butch Harmon 18 months ago. By Westwood's estimation, it has brought about a 100 per cent improvement in his play around the greens, the so-called money shots in tournament golf.

He went on to play down any need for a fitness regime to trim his none-too-svelte figure. "I don't feel overweight," he insisted. "Either way, I tend to hit the ball a bit further when I'm carrying a few extra pounds."

Westwood then made the interesting claim that he was "probably" better than Tiger Woods in one important area of the game - "but he's better than me in all the others". And what was the edge he had over Woods? "You wouldn't expect me to tell that," he replied. "It would be like giving shots away."

Meanwhile, one of the most revealing aspects of the scoring among the leaders, was their failure to avoid serious trouble. For instance, Gary Emerson carded 13 pars and four birdies and then bogeyed the long 18th which was playing as one of the easiest holes on the course.

Gary Evans, who also shot 69, carded five birdies, including one at the 18th. But there were two bogeys, along with a double-bogey at the 395-yard seventh. As the Englishman said afterwards: "The seventh was the only bad thing that happened today."

Pick any other hole, and it wouldn't have been difficult to find a player with a similar story. The K Club was taking no prisoners.