Clarke and Company Miss Paris Cut

Open champion Darren Clarke, on the other hand, paid a huge price for one nightmare hole — a quadruple-bogey eight at the seventh, his third last, that meant he missed the cut on four over, along with Michael Hoey.

The 43-year-old Ulsterman, playing his last tournament before he defends the Claret Jug at Royal Lytham in a fortnight, had been in 20th place as he stood on the tee. But his second shot found gorse and after taking a penalty drop he went into a bunker, came out short of the green and took three more from there.

Clarke dropped another stroke on the next, but his 76 was still four better than playing partner Paul Casey. For the former world number three that meant a second successive 80, as the shoulder dislocation he suffered while snowboarding at Christmas takes its toll. He made his exit in last place of the 155 players.

Peter Lawrie just sneaked into the weekend's action on three over after a 72, but Damien McGrane and Gareth Maybin were well off the pace on 12 over and seven over respectively.

At the top Marcel Siem led the Alstom French Open in Paris on Friday and had his title hopes boosted by a dramatic collapse from world number three Lee Westwood.

When Westwood chipped in at the 10th just after an 80-minute thunderstorm delay he was in a tie for third place, but he took penalty drops on three of the next five holes - once from heavy rough and twice from water - in dropping five shots. He did come back with a birdie on the short 16th, but a two-over-par 73 left him seven adrift of Siem.

Winner of the World Cup with Bernhard Langer in 2006, Siem has had only one European Tour victory in approaching 300 starts. But only a fortnight after going close on home soil at the BMW International Open back-to-back 68s put the 31-year-old in the driving seat heading into the weekend.

He double-bogeyed the 17th immediately after the resumption on play at 5pm, but then covered the front nine in a superb four-under 32 with birdies at the first, third, fifth and seventh to lead Sweden's Alexander Noren by one. Soren Hansen of Denmark and South Africa's George Coetzee are two shots back on four under.

At least Westwood was still in it after his horror stretch over the same four holes that cost him four strokes on the opening day.

Saltman Record Wins Audi Irish Masters

Elliot Saltman broke the course record to win the Audi Cork Irish Masters by eight shots at Fota Island Resort and move top of the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour Order of Merit by just £8.33.

It tops off a superb week for the Scotsman, who arrived at the event on the back of qualifying for the 2012 Open Championship via a play off on Tuesday evening.

At the start of the final round in Cork, Saltman (Archerfield Links) was tied for the lead with Australian Rika Batibasaga and Welshman Stuart Manley but a superb ten-under-par 61 saw the Scotsman to a comfortable victory.

He opened with a par at the first and then hit four consecutive birdies from the second. He completed the remaining four front-nine holes to par and made his fifth birdie of the round at the 10th. A birdie three followed at 12 before back-to-back threes at 14 and 15, both par fours.

He then completed his round with back-to-back par breakers at 17 and 18 to return to the clubhouse to sign for 61 and collect his £10,000 winner’s cheque.

“I have always had that there to be honest,” he reflected after the round. “I felt it was a matter of time until I came out and produced something like that.

“Last time I was in Ireland [for the Ulster Bank Open at Galgorm Castle, Ballymena] I got five under in the last round and came second, and then to shoot a combined six under par at Open Qualifying meant my confidence was flying coming to Fota Island.

“I made a target of nine under for the tournament so to shoot ten under in one round was a great performance that I am very proud of.

“Fota Island is an immaculate golf course. It is very, very good and a lot of the players have been giving it very high praise. Everything was immaculate, it was a very well-run tournament and it is something Fota Island should be proud of.”

Manley (Machynys Peninsula) has moved up to fourth on the Tour Order of Merit after finishing second and collecting £5,000. The top five golfers at the end of the season will be rewarded with a card for the 2013 Challenge Tour, putting them just one step away from the European Tour.

The Welshman signed for a 69 at the end of his final round, beating Scotland’s Duncan Stewart to second by one shot.

Stewart (Grantown on Spey) had been tied for fourth overnight and shot two under par in his final round to move to five under for the tournament.

Batibasaga (Indoorphilly GC) carded a three-over-par 74 in his final round and finished the competition tied for 15th.

The 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour remains in Ireland for the Kingspan Concra Wood Open, which gets underway next Wednesday, July 11.

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Harrington Needs a Fortune Change

Padraig Harrington faces a race against time to keep his Ryder Cup hopes alive.

Not unlike Rory McIlroy, the three-time Major winner, who is looking ahead to The Open at Royal Lytham in two weeks - hoping the putts start dropping again.

But while McIlroy’s problems are about adjusting to the slower European surfaces, Harrington has lost faith in his ability to read a putt. He is now chasing a victory in next week’s Scottish Open that would revive his chances of winning a seventh Ryder Cup cap.

Up nine spots to world No 60 after his seventh-place finish in the Irish Open, padarig said: “When the putts aren’t dropping, it is tough to gain any momentum or confidence.

“When I look back, I missed numerous opportunities.

“I hit the ball really well and I can only think of two less-than-perfect shots on Sunday. It is nice to have that going forward. The game is good and I’m hitting the ball as well as I have ever hit it. But I have got to hole putts.

“The good thing about the Irish Open is that I kept hitting good putts, no matter how lost I was in terms of confidence in the reading of the greens.

“I am not thinking there is too much wrong. I just need to get one of those weeks where you see the lines and trust it.

“If you see one or two putts going in, you think you know everything.”

A win at Castle Stuart could put him inside the 10 automatic qualifiers for Jose Maria Olazabal’s Ryder Cup team through the world rankings.

Following the Irish Open, he is 24th in European Ryder Cup Points List and just over a million points outside the top five.

But he could find himself inside the qualifiers if he wins the Scottish Open as he is now 21st in the Ryder Cup World Points list behind Rafael Cabrera Bello, who moved into the automatic places following his share of second place at Royal Portrush.

The Dubliner has been frustrated by his near-misses in terms of getting world ranking points on the board recently.

Recalling his costly final-hole bogey at the US Open, he said: “If you look at the last four weeks, every week has been a bit of a fail when it comes to earning points.

“I lost twice the points that I got for bogeying the last at the US Open. That’s a sore subject.

“I need a win to make this Ryder Cup team and I suppose getting back in the world top 50 would help as it would get me into the Bridgestone Invitational and give me an extra tournament for Ryder Cup qualification.

“But a win is what I need to get into that Ryder Cup team, so for the next two weeks, I will be concentrating on links golf.

“I am pretty confident going to Royal Lytham. The game is good.

“If I stay patient maybe I will hole the putts the week of The Open and won’t be worried about missing them this week.

“The game is like that. You hole a few putts and you start believing in the line and it’s easier to hole the next putt.

“I will try to stay patient and let it happen.”

Three Leaders at Fota Island Audi Masters

A gripping final day of play is in store at Fota Island Resort in Cork as three golfers share a one-shot lead ahead of the concluding round of the Audi Cork Irish Masters.

Rita Batibasaga, Stuart Manley and Elliot Saltman are all four under par after 36 holes of the seventh event of the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour season.

Five players are just one shot behind the leaders, setting up an exciting final round on Friday - 

final round tee times

Rita Batibasaga (Indoorphilly GC) made birdie six times in his second round but was pegged back by four bogeys. Starting at the 10th tee he picked up back-to-back birdies at his opening two holes before bogeying the 12th.

Three successive birdies from the 16th saw him move up the leaderboard and a birdie four at the fifth further improved his score. However, he concluded his round with three consecutive bogeys and signed a two-under-par 69, equalling his first round to moving to four under for the tournament.

Stuart Manley (Machynys Peninsula) carded a five-under-par second round of 66 with the help of an eagle three at the fourth. He had been one above par overnight but that eagle and three birdies saw him finish day two with a share of the lead.

Elliot Saltman, who qualified for this year’s Open Championship earlier in the week, started at the 10th and made four birdies on his front nine. He added to that with a four at the par-five fourth but bogeyed the seventh to sign for a 67.

Portstewart’s Paul Cutler is among the five golfers tied for fourth, one shot off the lead. His round didn’t get off to the best start when he double bogeyed the second but an eagle at the 10th pulled those dropped shots back and he added two birdies to his card at 12 and 18, and despite a bogey at the 13th he signed for 70.

Duncan Stewart (Grantown on Spey), Zane Scotland (Woodcote Park GC/Princes GC), Dan Seymour (Newbury Golf Centre) and Darryn Lloyd (Acrabuild Ltd/W.Ash & Sons) are also just one shot off the leading trio.

Overnight leader Michael Collins (Mallow Golf Range) shot a second-round 74 and is three shots off the pace.

Ahead of Friday’s final round a cut of the top 50 and ties has been made. Golfers with a total score of four over par or better will play another 18 holes to determine the winner. 

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