Clarke was pleased with his putting

Darren Clarke moved into contention at the BMW Asian Open with a three-under-par 69 in the second round.

The Northern Irishman is four under par, one shot behind joint leaders Robert-Jan Derksen and Zhang Lian-Wei.

Clarke, 39, put his improvement down to his putting, saying: "I worked with a guy last week on my alignment and it feels a lot better."

England's Miles Tunnicliff lies joint third after a second-round 70 that featured three birdies and a bogey.

Sweden's Henrik Stenson, looking to climb back to the top of the European Order of Merit, slipped down the leaderboard with a four-over 76.

He is five strokes off the lead alongside former world number one Greg Norman.

Miguel Angel Jimenez was among those to miss the cut, along with Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell.

McDowell's compatriot Rory McIlroy survived with a second round of 73, leaving him two over par.

Clarke has had mixed results on the European Tour this season, finishing third in the South African Airways Open but struggling at the Open de Andalucia.

"It has been a difficult time as I have not been playing as well as I would have liked," he said.

"But I am very pleased with the things I am working on. I have been working on my posture in the gym and things feel they are starting to click together.

"They have been close for some time but not quite doing it so hopefully I can go out at the weekend and keep playing the way I know I can play."