And the Ulsterman eventually booked his place in the second round on the 25th hole when the veteran Argentinian Romero found trouble off the tee and was unable to match his par four.

Only Mike Weir’s win on the 26th hole against Loren Roberts last year has lasted longer but Clarke was not alone in being taken to extra time.

Paul Casey missed from inside three feet to lose out on the 21st hole to USPGA champion Shaun Micheel, who had earlier holed from 30ft on the 17th to force sudden death.

And Colin Montgomerie birdied the 20th hole of his match to complete a superb fightback from two down with three to play against Nick Price.

Ireland’s Padraig Harrington was safely through to the last 32 for only the second time in five attempts after a 2&1 victory over Toshi Izawa but Lee Westwood went down to a revitalised Phil Mickelson.

There were mixed results for close friends Ian Poulter and Justin Rose, Poulter making a winning debut with a one-hole victory over Chris Riley but Rose crashing out 5&4 at the hands of Australian Stuart Appleby.

Tiger Woods was also in danger of an early exit, the defending champion and top seed one down to unheralded compatriot John Rollins with four to play.

Clarke, who beat Woods in the 2000 final, said: “It’s a huge relief. You see guys out there, some probably shot four or five under today and are going home. That’s a tough thing.

“The first round is so difficult because nobody wants to go home after the first day.

“I wanted to get off to a good start but it never really came back until the last two holes. Either of us could have won.

“On 18 I hit two good shots to the front of the green and I was just trying to chip it up there as close as I could and hit it a little bit firm. But as soon as I hit it it was tracking towards the hole.

“I think it was pretty fortunate that it managed to hit the flag.”

Earlier in the day, Izawa’s opening tee shot set the tone for a poor quality contest, landing so far left of target that it was off the chart used by tournament volunteers to note the position of each shot for the PGA Tour’s website.

From there he was lucky to just carry the lake around 60 yards short of the green, and with Harrington in a greenside bunker in two, proceeded to hit a dreadful pitch which only just made the front of the green.

However, Harrington could not take advantage and hit his bunker shot well past the flag to run up a bogey five which Izawa matched after two-putting from long range.

The second hole was halved in par threes after Izawa escaped from a greenside bunker and the Japanese player went one up on the third when Harrington three-putted for a bogey six after both players had found the 4 1/2 inch thick rough from the tee.

A par four was good enough for Harrington to get back to all square despite bogeys at the seventh and ninth, he went to the turn one up when he was conceded a birdie four at the eighth with his opponent in trouble.

The standard of golf suddenly improved several notches on the back nine and the next two holes were shared in birdies rather than bogeys, but Izawa then found more trouble on 14 and 15 and conceded both to drop three behind with three to play.

A superb approach to six feet on the par three 16th kept the contest alive but Harrington closed out the match on the 17th with a 12ft putt for par.

“I was glad to get that in,” he admitted. “I didn’t want to go down the last having lost the previous two.

“I should have had the match won after nine holes but I missed a lot of opportunities.”

Poulter was delighted to get through against Riley although he was unhappy with his putter and headed off to borrow one from Rose before he left.

“I’ve not been putting well for three weeks and borrowed Justin’s on the putting green and played well with it, but had to give it back,” Poulter said.

“He won’t be needing it now unfortunately so I might go and get it out of is bag before he leaves.”

Rose, who lost five of the last six holes against Appleby, said: “Early on I was just scrambling to staying in the match and you can only do that for so long.

“I was just a little off, a yard here or there in the rough, but that’s all you need here. You need to drive the ball in the fairway to give yourself a chance and I didn’t do that.”