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VIRGINIA WATER (England), May 23: Darren Clarke stuck doggedly to his task after another indifferent day with his putter to retain a one-stroke lead at the halfway point of the Volvo PGA Championship on Friday.
The Northern Irishman is playing majestically tee to green but a succession of missed chances with his putter has kept him at least in sight of most of the field at nine-under-par 135 after a second round 69 at Wentworth.
In all he took 31 putts which would be middle-of-the-field form at best had his ball-striking elsewhere not been so sweet.
With two rounds still to negotiate and the forecast not looking promising for a dry weekend, the big Ulsterman leads by one from his Ryder Cup team mate Niclas Fasth with a chasing bunch on seven under, including Ian Woosnam and an English teaching pro, Robert Rock, who is making his event debut.
Despite that, Clarke, 34, who is benefitting from a new fitness regime and diet to maintain his stamina throughout the round, collected six birdies in all and only a three-foot miss at the first and a bunkered approach at the seventh prevented him repeating his opening 66.
FORT WORTH (Texas): Patrick Sheehan, a late entrant into the PGA Colonial, shot a five-under 65 on Thursday to take the lead early in the first round.
The Rhode Islander only gained entry into the tournament after the withdrawal of Vijay Singh, but he grabbed his chance is style with five birdies.
His efforts were largely overshadowed, however, by Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam who became the first woman to play in a PGA event for 58 years.
Sorenstam had one birdie and two bogeys on her way to a solid 71 at the Colonial Country Club.
Dan Forsman carded a 66 and is alone in second place with eight players, including Stewart Cink and Loren Roberts, on 67.
Defending champion Nick Price and world number four Phil Mickelson were even par through four holes.
Leading first round scores
64 Rory Sabbatini (South Africa)
65 Patrick Sheehan, Mark Calcavecchia
66 Dan Forsman, Jesper Parnevik (Sweden)
67 Duffy Waldorf, Olin Browne, Jay Williamson, Stewart Cink, Mike Sposa, Loren Roberts, JJ Henry, Brandt Jobe, Glen Day, Brett Quigley, Chad Campbell, Stephen Ames (Trinidad and Tobago), Phil Mickelson, Craig Parry (Australia), Spike McRoy, Brian Watts (Canada)
Other international players:
68 Esteban Toledo (Mexico), Luke Donald (Britain), Greg Chalmers (Australia)
69 Per-Ulrik Johansson (Sweden), David Frost (South Africa)
70 Shigeki Maruyama (Japan), Alex Cejka (Germany), Nick Price (Zimbabwe), Peter Lonard (Australia), Brenden Pappas (South Africa).—Reuters
