Golf tips can be given and received in the strangest places at the strangest times. Darren Clarke was pondering his scorecard away from prying eyes when Thomas Bjorn, one of his partners on a windswept day, offered some unsolicited advice.
"You know, you're not turning your left shoulder," remarked the Dane, and the simple explanation was like a ray of hope to the Irishman, who'd been mystified by inconsistencies in his swing.
Indeed, Clarke had experienced the good, the bad and the ugly in a round of 72 for 146 that nevertheless left him primed for a weekend assault. On the 17th, his eighth hole, Clarke had hit as sweet a seven-iron approach of 173 yards to three feet for an eagle; yet, later, was left to figure out how he could top a three-iron shot from the middle of the fairway on the seventh, his 16th, when the ball scuttled along the ground for about 100 yards. It was the sort of shot to which any amateur hacker could relate.
Bjorn's advice was music to Clarke's ears. "Thomas gave me a few tips in the recorders after I signed my card. He told me I wasn't getting my left shoulder behind at all, told me that I was picking the club up more than making it turn," said Clarke, for whom the explanation made perfect sense.
"You know, it's a tendency I have when it gets windy. It comes from growing up at home on links and trying to hit it too low and if I don't make my turn, then the other bits and pieces don't work . . . it was good of Thomas to offer his opinion."
Despite the wind howling across the range, Clarke felt obliged to hit the practice ground to see if Bjorn's advice worked.
"You know, I didn't realise I wasn't turning when out on the course. It's one of my bad habits . I'm six behind, but that's not a million miles away. It depends on what the wind is like over the weekend, so if I can get out and get a decent start and shoot a good number I can get back into it, especially as difficult as this course is. It's hard and it won't get any easier."
Clarke, in tied-17th, was the best-placed of the five Irish players who made the cut. He was joined by Gary Murphy (73 for 148), Graeme McDowell (75 for 149), Damien McGrane (77 for 149) and Paul McGinley (79 for 151). McGinley triple-bogeyed the ninth, his finishing hole, and had an anxious wait before surviving to the weekend.
McDowell claimed his iron play was "as bad as I've hit it for two rounds in quite a long time. I've just gone completely off the boil.
"My iron play has been terrible the last two days and I have no idea why. Maybe I've been affected by the wind and gone back to some old habits."
