In failing light, Clarke wanted to call a halt to his second round on the par five 13th tee at Southern Hills.

But the decision to call off play did not come until he had hit two balls into the water.

The Ulsterman returned for the five remaining holes on Saturday mornnig and covered them in level par to survive the halfway cut with a stroke to spare.

Pretty harsh

However, he was still angered at what had happened the previous evening.

The disaster hole cost him a triple bogey eight and sent him crashing from two over par - only six off the lead - to five over.

"We could barely see the flag on the previous green," said Clarke.

"But the USGA (United States Golf Association) in their wisdom know better than me.

"It was pretty harsh. You needed infra-red to see the ball at the stage the hooter went off.

"The wise people said we had to play on and obviously it was very disappointing that we were forced to."

A number of the 33 players unable to finish Friday night complained to the USGA about the delay in suspending play.

Robert Allenby will undoubtedly join the queue.

The Australian had a quadruple bogey eight at the 16th to go from five over to nine over - and out.

"I was playing so nicely," added Clarke who is now nine shots behind joint leaders Retief Goosen, Mark Brooks and J L Lewis.

"If I had been on the green in two I'd have had a chance for an eagle that would have taken me to level par.

"It was difficult to motivate myself this morning, but although I wasn't particularly happy I managed to stick in there."