It was no doubt the last thing he felt like, but Darren Clarke somehow managed a wry smile after joining Colin Montgomerie in crashing out of the Austrian Open today.
Montgomerie had long since departed for the airport when Clarke stood on the 18th fairway needing just a par five to make his first halfway cut since early February.
But on a sweltering afternoon at Fontana Golf Club, the Ulsterman was amazingly caught up in a passing squall which turned his approach shot from straightforward to treacherous, and the Ryder Cup star duly found the water which guards the front of the green.
The resulting bogey six meant a second round of 70 and halfway total of one over par, just one shot outside the cut.
"I played lovely all day, as good as I have in about a year," said Clarke, who has now missed six cuts in a row, slumped from 35th in the world at the start of the year to 94th and will miss next week's US Open after failing to get through Monday's 36-hole qualifier at Walton Heath.
"I had a bit of a cold putter. I gave myself a lot of really good chances but couldn't quite make them and I'm a bit disappointed to say the least to make six at the last.
"It was a perfect four-iron when I got there but by the time I hit it (against the wind) I was jumping all over a three-iron off a downhill lie.
"That's why I pushed it a bit but I wasn't going to lay up to the left, I'm thinking I have to make birdie to make the cut."
Clarke has also missed several events through injury this year, but, asked if the sudden change in the weather summed up his recent luck, he added: "I don't want to go down that route but it's a tough battle."
While Clarke will not be at Oakmont - he had only missed two of the previous 33 majors - Montgomerie will head across the Atlantic on the longest winless streak of his career.
The Scot - whose last win came in December 2005 in Hong Kong - could only add a 74 to his opening 73 on a course considerably easier than next week, not the sort of preparation the 43-year-old had in mind.
Second at Winged Foot last year after taking a double bogey on the 72nd hole to lose by one, Montgomerie had been looking for a good performance before returning to Oakmont, where he lost a play-off to Ernie Els in 1994.
Instead he made an early exit after a round of three birdies, two bogeys and two double bogeys, pausing only to say: "I'm hitting the fairways but nothing is happening. I can't make a score and I'm getting used to it."
Australia's Richard Green held the clubhouse lead on 11 under par after a 65, one ahead of Sweden's Martin Erlandsson. Fellow Swedes Pelle Edberg and Steven Jeppesen and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez are a shot further back on nine under, with Wales' Garry Houston among a group on seven under after equalling the course record with a 63.
Of the five-strong Irish challenge only Graeme McDowell (69) and David Higgins (71) make the cut at two and one under respectively. Peter Lawrie (69) and Gary Murphy (78) join Clarke on the plane home, sitting as they do on four and six over respectively.
