By Paul Gallagher
Darren Clarke carried on his blistering form from yesterday to take the outright leadon the second day of the Spanish Open.
Clarke started the day on five-under after yesterday’s 67 and since then the Tyroneman has progressed to 11-under after 10 holes and leads by one fromAndrew Oldcorn. The Scotiscurrently two-under for the eight holes played today.
In a bogey free round thus far, Clarkebirdied the second then went on a run of four birdies from the fifth to reach the turn in five-under 31, he added another at the 11th.
Robert Karlsson, Jarmo Sandelin and Carl Pettersson made all the early running in a three-pronged Swedish attack at the start of the day.
The trio had moved into a share of the lead with the overnight leader Oldcorn on eight-under.Sandelin made the most progress by carding a six-under par 66.The 1999 winner compiled no less than eight birdies and the only blemishes were bogies at the 10th and 18th.
Karlsson accrued his halfway eight-under total 136 with a second consecutive 68, while his compatriot Pettersson shot a second round 69.
Meanwhile, Des Smyth slipped back to one-under after having got to four-under for his first five holes. The veteranthen made bogey, double-bogey on the 16th and 17th - his seventh and eighth.
It was a disappointing day for Eamonn Darcy and David Higgins who carded second rounds of 73 and 76 respectively.With Darcy finishing with a four-over total 148 and Higgins on six-over 150, both are unlikely to be around for the weekend.
Ronan Rafferty has been unable to rectify yesterday's poor round of 76.The 37-year-old is currently six-over par for tournament after nine holes played.