Woods almost holed in one at the short third but Clarke chipped in at the sixth. Once Woods had levelled the match at the seventh, the next 11 holes were halved, three of them in birdies. But as the impasse continued, both missed birdie chances at 17 and 18. A fine approach with a five-iron at the last gave Clarke the opportunity to lead at the interval but he misread the five-footer.The Irishman, having stayed away from the practice range at lunch unlike his opponent, was the one who made the break at the start of the afternoon round. He dropped a 15-foot putt at the opening hole for the first of five birdies on the front nine. Woods picked up his customary birdie four at the second to get level again but had no answer to an inspired passage of play from the fourth.With Woods having missed the green, Clarke hit a seven-iron to eight feet and holed.

Woods again failed to find the green at the next and Clarke made him pay again with a brilliant four-iron approach to 10 feet. Putts of 12 feet and 10 feet at the seventh and eighth extended Clarke’s lead to four-up before Woods claimed the ninth with a birdie-four.But the American three-putted the 10th and, though he hit his tee-shot stiff at the short 11th, also bogeyed the par-five 12th when he left a bunker shot in the sand. The 13th was halved in birdies but Woods knew he was really in trouble when he missed a makeable putt at the 14th.”Darren hit the ball beautifully and holed a lot of putts,” Woods said.CLARKE’S PATH TO THE BIG PRIZEFIRST ROUND P Azinger (US) 2 and 1SECOND ROUND M O’Meara (US) 5 and 4THIRD ROUND T Bjorn (Den) 1 holeQUARTER-FINAL H Sutton (US) 1 holeSEMI-FINAL D Duval (US) 4 and 2FINAL T Woods (US) 4 and 3. Exactly where Butch Harmon’s allegiances lie was shown on the practice range at La Costa before the final of the Andersen Consulting World Matchplay.

At one end of the range was Harmon with his primary employer, a certain Tiger Woods, the world No 1. At the other was another of Harmon’s clients and Woods’ opponent in yesterday’s golfing version of Who wants to be a Millionaire? – 36 holes and no interference from any outside agency allowed. Exactly where Butch Harmon’s allegiances lie was shown on the practice range at La Costa before the final of the Andersen Consulting World Matchplay. At one end of the range was Harmon with his primary employer, a certain Tiger Woods, the world No 1.