Careful driver Lawrie survives imperfect 10

Send Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie and Gary Murphy out on the town and it’s a fair bet that Lawrie would soon be handed the car keys as the designated driver.

It’s not that the Dubliner is more abstemious than the other two, but he’s simply not a man of extremes.

Yesterday in the Maybank Malaysian the 35-year old racked up the first double digit score of his pro career - a whopping quintuple bogey 10 at the par-five fifth.

Amazingly for the fifth straightest hitter on tour last year, he drove out of bounds, reloaded and went OB again. Yet he kept his cool and punished himself for his crime by snacking on dry bread and water, and promptly birdied the sixth from 20 feet.

At three under par, the straight hitter from Rathfarnham finds himself eight stokes behind leader Welshman Rhys Davies at the halfway stage.

But Clarke and Murphy were taking the weekend off after two disappointing days at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.

Lawrie told the Irish Independent: “I would have been 11 or 12 years of age when I last had double figures on a hole, but then if you take that 10 off the card and put me down for a par, I would be leading the tournament.

“It also is somewhat a sign of your mental toughness that you can put a score like the 10 out of your mind and then come out and birdie the next hole which is what I did.

“So overall it’s been a great 35 holes and besides it is still only Friday.”

Clarke travelled to Malaysia fresh from a break in his native Ulster alongside his children. 

He had hoped to eliminate the mistakes that have prevented him from making a significant move in the world rankings so far this year.

Instead, he’ll fall further in the pecking order after missing the cut by five shots. Having opened with a one-over 73, the world No 108 started with eight successive pars on the back nine before imploding with five dropped shots in as many holes to sign for a 77.

Bogeys at the 18th and first were followed by a triple bogey seven at the second, another bogey at the par-three fourth and a birdie four at the fifth that Lawrie would happily have given an arm and a leg to put down on his card.