Montgomerie slumped to a second-round 77 while Poulter was unable to recover sufficiently from shooting the same score on the opening day.

Both will now miss next week’s £3.7million American Express World Championship at Mount Juliet in County Kilkenny as a result.

The top 20 on the European Order of Merit qualify for that event – first prize £635,000 and guaranteed last place money around £15,000 – but Poulter came into this week 21st and Montgomerie 23rd. The only way they can go now is down.

“Probably a blessing in disguise to be honest,” said Montgomerie, who deserves a rest after the part he played in Europe’s biggest-ever win over the Americans.

Howell, who on Wednesday was wondering why he was not taking this week off, stands three under par with 36 holes to go, but Harrington, who won seven days after The Belfry victory two years ago, is unlikely to repeat that. He stands one under.

Eight ahead of him and joint leaders are Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell and Welshman Phillip Price.

A star, of course, of the last Ryder Cup for his vital singles win over Phil Mickelson, Price is having a disappointing season, down from 10th on the money list to 56th. He will not be part of next week’s elite field even if he wins on Sunday.

McDowell, on the other hand, is up from 96th to ninth and could go sixth by landing the £226,436 winner’s cheque on Sunday.

An even bigger amount slipped from his grasp at the German Masters two weeks ago. He led by five with 17 holes to play, but collapsed to a 77 and finished joint third.

The 25-year-old from Portrush, a team-mate of Luke Donald’s at the 2001 Walker Cup, closed with two birdies for a 68 today just after Price’s birdie-birdie-eagle finish had given him a 67.

“Cologne was probably one of the low points of the year – a big blow – but I’ve moved on very quickly from it,” commented McDowell.

“I led the tournament for three and a half rounds against a world-class field and I had a lot of positives to take away from it.

“I played great golf and I’ve continued where I left off. I really do feel I’ve turned the corner from the player who used to worry about missing cuts and all that jazz.

“I’ve moved onto the next level where teeing up on Thursday I’m trying to put myself into a position of winning. Any time you aim high you will hopefully achieve, but any time you set your sights low you’re going to come a cropper.”

He has already made the 2006 Ryder Cup in Ireland a goal – and so has Price. Sandra Price, that is.

“My wife informed me ‘I would like to be at the K Club next time’,” said the 37-year-old.

“I thought I might be a bit envious before I started watching last week, but I was really pleased for everybody.”

He was not displeased with what his wife had to say.

“I’d definitely like to play again.”

Price and McDowell are a stroke ahead of Patrik Sjoland and Henrik Stenson, two Swedes trying to get their careers moving again.

Sjoland has not won since the 2000 Irish Open at Ballybunion, Stenson since the 2001 Benson and Hedges International at The Belfry.

The Heritage Leaderboard

135 Phillip Price 68 67, Graeme McDowell 67 68

136 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 68 68, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 67

138 Mark Foster 69 69, Barry Lane 71 67

139 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 69

140 Jamie Elson 69 71, Ian Woosnam 71 69, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 69 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 70 70, Mattias Nilsson (Swe) 70 70, Gordon Brand Jnr 70 70, Anders Hansen (Den) 72 68

141 Soren Hansen (Den) 70 71, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 71, David Gilford 73 68, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 73 68, David Howell 71 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 70, Alastair Forsyth 73 68, Nick Dougherty 68 73, David Park 71 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 68 73

142 Martin Maritz (Rsa) 71 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 72, Roger Chapman 69 73, Raymond Russell 68 74, Gary Emerson 73 69

143 Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 76 67, Robert Rock 73 70, Miles Tunnicliff 74 69, Richard Green (Aus) 73 70, Sam Torrance 74 69, Andrew Marshall 71 72, David Lynn 73 70, Padraig Harrington 72 71

144 Stephen Dodd 76 68, Philip Golding 73 71, Stephen Gallacher 75 69, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 72 72, Bradley Dredge 70 74, Sven Struver (Ger) 75 69, Gary Murphy 71 73, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 75 69, Peter Senior (Aus) 71 73, Peter Lawrie 72 72

145 Simon Dyson 76 69, Gary Orr 75 70, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 72 73, Kenneth Ferrie 72 73, Jonathan Lomas 72 73, Ross Fisher 74 71, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 75 70, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 74 71, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 73, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 76 69

146 Mark Roe 72 74, Santiago Luna (Spa) 75 71, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 72 74, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 75 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 76 70, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 73 73, Brian Davis 78 68, (x) Sam Osborne 70 76, Peter Baker 72 74, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 74 72, Stuart Little 69 77, Matthew Blackey 76 70, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 73, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 76 70

147 John Bickerton 76 71, Damien McGrane 71 76, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 74 73, Richard McEvoy 74 73, David Dixon 72 75, Peter Fowler (Aus) 76 71, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 71 76, Jamie Spence 76 71

148 Dean Robertson 74 74, Colin Montgomerie 71 77, David Carter 73 75, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 75 73, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 75 73, Marten Olander (Swe) 73 75, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 75 73, Ian Poulter 77 71

149 Greg Owen 74 75, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 78, Andrew Coltart 76 73, Julien Clement (Swi) 78 71

150 Nobuhito Sato (Spa) 77 73

151 Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 75 76, Philippe Lima (Fra) 71 80, Malcolm Mackenzie 77 74, Diego Borrego (Spa) 75 76, Scott Drummond 75 76

153 Johan Edfors (Swe) 77 76, Neil Reilly 78 75, Sandy Lyle 73 80

154 Euan Little 78 76, Steve Webster 78 76

155 Ivo Giner (Spa) 80 75, Adam Groom (Aus) 76 79

157 Tobias Dier (Ger) 80 77

158 James Hepworth 78 80

Retired Cesar Monasterio (Arg)