Darren Clarke, starting out one behind Peter Baker and Paul Broadhurst, showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals with an outward 30. He birdied the second, chipped in for an eagle at the fourth, two-putted the long fifth for a birdie, and made three straight birdies from the seventh. Colin Montgomerie, with three birdies and an eagle in five holes from the fifth, momentarily challenged, as did Mark Davis with eight birdies and an eagle, but Clarke made further birdies at the 13th, 15th and 17th before dropping his only shot at the 18th.
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