Far from it – 63 more shots later he was in the clubhouse on 10 under par and he will go into the third round sharing third place, two behind Maarten Lafeber. The Dutchman’s round contained 63 strokes in total, just one off the course record.

Colin Montgomerie, round in 69 for five under, had no difficulty pin-pointing the part of his Ryder Cup team-mate’s game that got him into the hunt for an 11th European Tour title.

“If Darren Clarke putts the way he did today this tournament is his – and he will do very well next week too,” commented playing partner Montgomerie. Next week, of course, is the Open at St Andrews.

“Twenty-two putts is absolutely phenomenal. He didn’t look like he was going to miss.”

Clarke returned – and returned with a fourth place finish – only last week from a month at home helping his wife Heather in her battle with cancer and heart trouble.

“I didn’t have much time to work on my putting and it had gone off somewhat, but my putting coach Stan Utley is over this week from America,” he said. “I’m delighted.”

Despite four closing birdies he was not delighted with the rest of his game, though, and a hard afternoon’s graft on the practice range followed.

That opening hole shank – off a hanging lie in the rough, to be fair – was not his first in competition. He had one on the same course last year and missed the cut because of it, another in the Open and then a spectacular one in the US PGA, captured in slow motion for all to see.

Thirty-year-old Lafeber’s 63 constituted his lowest round on tour and stepped up his bid not just to win the £400,000 first prize but also to grab the Open Championship place on offer.

He is one ahead of Argentina’s Angel Cabrera, while alongside Clarke are Scot Alastair Forsyth and England’s Jonathan Lomas.

“You see how strong a field this is it would be a great step in my career,” stated Lafeber, whose only victory came in the 2003 Dutch Open and who currently stands 139th on the world rankings.

He and his playing parter Simon Dyson (64) had an incredible better-ball of 57.

Forsyth’s one success came in the 2002 Malaysian Open when he did not even hold a tour card, but the 29-year-old from Paisley has finished 19th and 33rd on the Order of Merit since then.

He was round in 64 – nine birdies and two bogeys – but not wanting to pile on the pressure in his national championship he said: “The way things have been going this year it’s just as likely I could shoot 77 tomorrow.

“I’ll be happy if I can put another two solid rounds on the books. When my game is good I can prove that I can compete against the best. It’s doing it over four rounds.”

Phil Mickelson is one of the best, of course, but reached halfway only on three under after a disappointing 72 in the perfect conditions.

“It was a great day to go low and I just didn’t do it,” said the world number four.

Retief Goosen, one place below him in the rankings, is only one better off but after a slow start Ernie Els, one place above him, is up to six under.

Cabrera, who shared the first round lead with England’s Stuart Little, is looking to add the title to the BMW Championship he won at Wentworth in May.

Lomas, trying to get into the Open like Lafeber, shot 65.