South African Open: Darren Clarke sank a 30-foot monster putt for eagle on the short, 274-yard par four 18th to just survive on the cut mark after yesterday's second round of the South African Open.

After opening with a level par 72 at the Royal Durban Country Club, an erratic Clarke racked up five bogeys and a double yesterday and was headed for a weekend off before pulling off the great escape at the last.

It left the Ulster man on two-over-par 146, some 11 shots behind leader Titch Moore, who overcame a shaky start to lead by two shots at the halfway stage.

Moore (28), known for making spectacular first-round scores before fading away in later rounds, looked as if his reputation had preceded him as the afternoon session began.

He twice found the bunker on the third and the sixth, dropping a shot on each as he scrambled toward the hole, and while he birdied the seventh with a wedge which left the ball 12 inches from the pin, his tee-shot on the ninth went way left and landed under some heavy brush.

But not one to give up, Moore simply put his head down and headed forth, grabbing four birdies on the back nine to post a respectable 70 on a difficult day to keep him at the top of the leaderboard for another night.

Moore leads by two from another local lad in Hendrik Buhrmann, who shot the round of the day for a 67 to end on seven under.

Behind them was a group of five players on six under - including overnight co-leader Bruce Vaughan of the US and another South African, Louis Oosthuizen.

Best of the Irish was Stephen Brown, who fired a fine 67 after an opening 78 to lie on one over par. Browne had eight birdies in the round, with the only blips coming with a bogey at the 15th and a double at the next.

Gary Murphy also survived on the cut mark after a two-under 70, but Ciarán McMonagle, despite a 72, and Philip Walton, who had five consecutive bogeys from the second hole, his 11th, missed out.

Moore described how he pulled himself out of what looked to be a difficult day at the office.

"I was trying to hang in there because I wasn't playing that well," he said. "I actually did well to make pars at the first two holes before I bogeyed the third, but I knew there were always opportunities coming back down the final few holes, so I was just trying to hang in there.

"I was trying to get it back to even for the day, and to be honest to be two under with a nice finish was really good. It was pretty frustrating because I couldn't seem to get myself into the game.

"The short game has been great all week, but I just couldn't seem to get the ball into play."

Buhrmann was happy with the upturn in his game, after finding it difficult to find some form in recent weeks.

"I've had a lot of injuries recently and it's been giving me a lot of trouble," he said. "But this year I'm looking forward to working hard on the game and it's looking good."

Vaughan surprised everyone, including himself, in the first round, by posting a 65 in his first competitive round since six reconstructive knee surgeries kept him out of the game for more than a year.

But while things went his way on day one, Vaughan was not as lucky on day two, and he admitted his knee was plaguing him once more.

"My knee hasn't really woken up this morning, it is kind of sore, but that is no real excuse because I hit a lot of bad shots," he admitted.

"I hit a lot of poorer shots than I did yesterday and didn't putt very well. But even so, this is better than sitting at home."