Date: August 31, 2008
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Clark flirts with magical mark

South African Tim Clark flirted with golf&aposs magical 59 mark before settling for a nine-under 62 to take the halfway lead at the Deutsche Bank Championship. He was 11-under on the day through 16 holes, needing only one more birdie to shoot 59, but he bogeyed the final two holes instead. Clark leads at 14-under 128, one stroke ahead of Canadian Mike Weir, while Nick O&aposHern is the best Australian, seven strokes off the pace, with Stuart Appleby and Jason Day another stroke back. Weir, who matched the course record with a 10-under 61 in the first round, made a slow start to the second round but recovered from two bogeys to roar back with five birdies in a three-under 68. American Ben Curtis and Fijian Vijay Singh share third place at 12-under with rounds of 65 and 66 respectively, with Singh&aposs bid to claim the prize as the FedEx Cup winner gaining pace. He&aposs being chased for the big bucks by Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who Singh pipped in a playoff last week at The Barclays. Garcia is one stroke back of Singh and Curtis along with Ernie Els, Kevin Streelman and Jim Furyk. Meanwhile, under-fire Englishman Ian Poulter and Paul Casey did not help their Ryder Cup causes as they missed the cut. Poulter and Casey, who are among several players vying for a captain&aposs pick on the European team, squandered their final chance to impress Nick Faldo before he names his selections on Sunday. Casey finished at one-under 141 after the second round, with Poulter three strokes further back. Second Round of The Deutsche Bank (Par 71) -14: Tim Clark 66 62 -13: Mike Weir 61 68 -12: Ben Curtis 65 65, Vijay Singh 64 66 -11: Jim Furyk 66 65, Kevin Streelman 66 65, Sergio Garcia 67 64, Ernie Els 66 65 -10: John Merrick 64 68, Anthony Kim 66 66, Heath Slocum 64 68, Steve Marino 66 66 -9: Richard S Johnson 67 66, DJ Trahan 67 66, Charlie Wi 66 67, Briny Baird 64 69, Ken Duke 66 67, John Mallinger 66 67, Johnson Wagner 68 65, Steve Flesch 68 65, Jeff Overton 66 67 Also: -7: Nick O Hern (Australia) 69 66 -6: Jason Day (Australia) 70 66, Stuart Appleby (Australia) 70 66 -5: Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 67 70, Robert Allenby (Australia) 70 67 -4: John Senden (Australia) 69 69, Peter Lonard (Australia) 71 67, Adam Scott (Australia) 70 68 -3: Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 72 67 E: Rod Pampling (Australia) 71 71 +1: Matthew Goggin (Australia) 70 73 +4: Steve Elkington (Australia) 72 74