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Clarke in position after Asian Open second round

25/04/2008

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke is poised for a run at the Asian Open title after finishing his second round just one shot behind the leaders.

Clarke carded a three-under-par second round of 69 to follow up his one-under-par first round in Shanghai.

This put him one stroke behind the Netherlands' Robert-Jan Derksen and China's Zhang Lian-Wei, who are tied for first place on five under par overall after matching Clarke's effort on day two.

First-round leader Peter O'Malley dropped off the pace slightly, slumping to a two-over-par second-round score of 74 to put him on three under par overall.

He is tied with Miles Tunnicliff for fourth spot on the leaderboard, after the Englishman shot a two-under-par 70.

The round of the day went to New Zealander Mark Brown, whose eight birdies took him up from a tie for 97th overall after the first round up to joint sixth.

He joins England's Oliver Wilson and South African Retief Goosen, who carded rounds of 74 and 70 respectively.

The second day was less enjoyable for a number of other top-name players, however,

Clarke's Northern Irish countryman Graeme McDowell is set to miss the cut after following up his 74 on the first day with a poor 76, putting him on six over par for the tournament.

Fellow Britons Oliver Fisher and David Howell will also miss out as will Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez – whose poor 77 on day two featured a double-bogey five at the par-three eighth and four other dropped shots in his opening nine holes.