With traffic cones currently festooning the dusty access routes to the county Kildare venue as efforts to smarten up the local infrastructure drag on, it wasn't certain whether the spectators or the players at the Smurfit Kappa European Open were having more trouble plotting a course to their destination.

The swollen crowds and soaring temperatures of last Thursday's first round were a distant memory as more traditional Irish summer weather hung over the tournament making golf about as frustrating as drumming your fingers at a temporary traffic light. Such was the apprehension that the exposed Smurfit Course would become virtually unplayable as the weather system moved in that the organisers decided not to speed up the greens, and to shorten the demanding layout by nearly 150 yards. In the end, the gale force winds never blew through, but the rain fell in torrents.

Despite coming into this and every other tournament he has competed in this season with no expectations because of his wife's on-going illness, Darren Clarke managed to remain in contention, while Paul McGinley unexpectedly gave himself an opportunity to move into contention later today with a superb 67 before the weather began to deteriorate. If victory is likely to be out of reach, McGinley is now eyeing a top-10 finish at least which would reinvigorate his challenge to secure a place on the Ryder Cup team.

Relying more on his innate talent and experience than any decent preparation, Clarke, who is unsure whether he will play in the British Open or the Ryder Cup, kept his focus impressively in the worst of the conditions, and he could well give Bradley Dredge of Wales and England's Anthony Wall, who were leading the way towards the end of yesterday's round, a run for their money over the final 18 holes.

Challenges materialised yesterday from Spain's Jose Manuel Lara, while Paul Casey remains a threat, but if Clarke manages to keep his focus today and pull off a totally unexpected victory on home soil, there won't be a dry eye in the house.

If Damien McGrane and Stephen Browne were positioning themselves to make their fattest cheques of the year so far, there was no surge from Padraig Harrington whose 69 would have been considerably better had it not been for some poor putting.

Meanwhile, US Ryder Cup captain, Tom Lehman, has confirmed that he has abandoned all thoughts of trying to qualify for his team as a player. Earlier in the season, Lehman had indicated that he was quite prepared to take on the role of playing captain at the K Club, but now has had a change of heart. "I'm definitely not playing, " he said.