Graeme McDowell produced an impressive finish to his second round to stay in touch at the Open at St Andrews. McDowell recovered from a double bogey at the fourth to shot a level par 72 which keeps him on three under par.
Darren Clarke shot a 70 to move to one under but he will feel that he wasted a chance to move into serious contention.
Clarke birdied four of his opening 10 holes to move to three under but three bogeys on his back nine halted the Dungannon man's progress.
After parring his opening three holes, McDowell took a six on the difficult par-four fourth.
He then parred his next holes but birdies on the 14th and closing holes enabled McDowell to sign for his level-par round.
After his round, McDowell described the newly-lengthened fourth at St Andrews as "the stupidest hole in golf".
Neither McDowell nor playing partners Wayne Hensby and former Open champions Justin Leonard reached the fairway and it cost them two, three and one dropped shots respectively as a result.
"We are standing on the tee box and it's 275 yards to the fairway. This morning it was blowing at least 15mph in our faces and the three of us hit great tee shots right down the middle and never had a sniff of the fairway - we were about 20 yards short," said McDowell.
"The alternative is to go across to 15 and if you do that you've got 240 yards to a pin which is inaccessible. A five is a good score, a four is a birdie.
"I know the wind dropped later on but when it was blowing against there was nowhere to go.
"For an average long-hitter I was not getting near the fairway. I'm not a big fan of that change. It's nuts. Crazy."
Paul McGinley was sweating to see whether he would make the cut after firing a disappointing round of 75 for one over.
Midway through the afternoon, the projected cut was level par although it was raised to one over as the day continued.
But the Ryder Cup star just made it by one shot.
British Amateur Champion Brian McElhinney, who shot a 78 on Thursday, finished nine-under after a second-round 75 and Peter Lawrie was certain to miss the cut after hitting a disappointing 78 for 152.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
I'm not a big fan of that change. It's nuts. Crazy
