Clark one stroke clear

Clark: One-stroke lead

Second-round leaderboard:
Aus unless stated
T Clark (RSA) -7
M Sim -6
A Summers -6
A Townsend -5
R Pampling -5
S Webster (Eng) -5
R Allenby -5
D Horsey (Eng) -5
J Donaldson (Wal) -5
M Wright -5

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A second-round 70 from Tim Clark was sufficient for the South African to retain the lead after round two of the Australian Masters at Huntingdale.

The world number 53 nevertheless claimed he could have done better than his two-under-par round on a day which brought calm, quiet conditions on a course softened by overnight rain.

Many in the field took full advantage, although John Daly followed up his opening-round 76 with one-over 73.

The tournament's drawcard therefore missed the cut alongside the likes of Craig Parry and Stuart Appleby, who both finished at plus-four.

Clark's seven-under total sees him one stroke ahead of Australian Anthony Summers (68), who moved to eight-under before dropping two shots on his final three holes.

Summers lies in a tie for second place with former world number one amateur Michael Sim, who fired an error-free 66.

Robert Allenby (66) lies one stroke further back among a pack of seven players, the tournament favourite picking up five shots on the back nine.

Former Masters runner-up Clark, who is competing in Australia for the first time, said his lead could have been greater but for a number of missed putts.

"I had a lot more birdie chances and with the greens being softer it was easier to get it closer, and I just didn't make anything," he said.

"I made one putt of about eight feet for birdie on the first which was my back nine, and that was it all day.

"I left a lot out there on the greens...but I'm still in a great position.

"It seems like it's going to be quite bunched-up with how the course is playing so really it's about playing four solid rounds."

Unheralded

The unheralded Summers came to the Masters buoyed by a tie for 10th in the same tournament 12 months ago, his best-ever finish in an Australasian Tour event.

And he conceded that being around for the final two rounds will be something of a rare occurrence.

"It could have been really good out there," the 39-year-old said.

"When I hit a bad one, I got away with it, and when I hit the good ones I made the most of them, so it was a good day.

"I get to play the weekend, that's a great bonus."

Elsewhere, joint first-round leader Scott Hend finished with a one-over 73 to drop to four-under.

Meanwhile, Daly failed to come to terms with the wind at Huntingdale on Thursday and the greens on Friday.

"I had a couple of eagle opportunities and hit horrible putts, three-putted one of them," he said.

"When you don't putt good, it's not much fun, it's tough.

"I had opportunities today and they just didn't fall."

Course record

The individual highlight of the day was provided by Aaron Townsend, who equalled the course record with a 64 to join Allenby on five-under.

Townsend's round was all the more remarkable given that he had earlier returned to complete his opening round - and made a complete hash of it.

With Thursday's play having been interrupted by an electrical storm, the 27-year-old arrived at the course at the crack of dawn to complete his final five holes.

However, Townsend finished with four bogeys for a three-over 75.