Phil Mickelson has missed the cut at the Crowne Plaza Invitational while Bryce Molder leads the field by one shot at the halfway stage at Colonial. (Molder 5/1 in-play to win)

Mickelson could have taken over as the world number one with a good showing in Texas this week, but rounds of 71 and 73 have seen the left-hander miss his first cut for 21 events.

The 39-year-old has already bagged a major this year with victory at the Masters and he is determined to turn this week’s horror show into a positive in the run-up to the year’s second major at Pebble Beach. (13/2 to win US Open)

“I played terrible,” he said. “The course is in great shape. There was no wind and there were a ton of birdies out there. And I didn’t make have many of them. I thought my game was sharper.

“This was a good barometer, though. This starts my run into the US Open. It tells me that I have a lot of work to do.”

Molder added a superb 62 to his first round 65 to sit on 13-under par after his first 36 holes, with Jason Bohn (4/1 to win in-play) just one shot back.

Englishman Brian Davis has carded a 64 and 65 to date and is in currently third at -11 along with American Kris Blanks.

While European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie continues to struggle with his game, his US counterpart Corey Pavin rolled back the years to card a 64 on day two and he is in contention at -9.

Paul Casey is currently four-under while fellow Englishmen Justin Rose and Ian Poulter are on -3 and -2 respectively.

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Darren Clarke believes he is capable of cutting out the errors that have cost him this season as the Ulsterman (25/1 in the tournament betting) looks for his first win since 2008 at the Maybank Malaysian Open.

The 41-year-old has made a decent start to the season with two top-ten finishes at the Joburg Open and the Avantha Masters in his last outing.

However, the Ryder Cup (Europe 8/11 to win in the golf betting) star has failed to finish higher up the leaderboard thanks to a couple of poor final rounds.

Clarke looked to be on course to be challenging for the Avantha Masters title before a error-strewn final round cost him, must as it had done in Dubai the week before.

Clarke (8/1 to be the top European in Malaysia) is now targeting his first tournament success since he triumphant at the KLM Open in Holland in August 2008.

“I am not concerned by my lack of practice, I know what I am doing. But I need to start to eliminate those errors,” said Clarke.

“I have played really well and hit the ball the way I wanted to for the most part in every tournament I have played this year.”

With an unspectacular field against him Clarke has been made the fourth favourite by Betfred.com to claim the Malaysian Open title as he looks to deny the 8/1 pre-tournament favourite Tongchai Jaidee of winning his third title at the event.

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World number one Tiger Woods will not make his highly-anticipated return to golf at next week’s WGC Match Play Championship in Arizona (Phil Mickelson 9/2 favourite The Masters 2010 – Without Tiger Woods).

The shamed American superstar had until had until 2200 GMT on Friday to confirm his entry for the tournament but failed to do so and will continue his “indefinite break” from the sport.

Woods has not been since in public since lurid allegations about his private life emerged in November last year.

His absence, combined with that of world number three Phil Mickelson, means places in the 64-man field for Britain’s Chris Wood and Ross McGowan (Rory McIlroy 10/1 favourite The Open Championship 2010 – Without Tiger Woods).

Woods could now make his comeback in either the CA Championship in Miami (March 11-14) or the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando two weeks later – or the unofficial – and private – Tavistock Cup match on his home course Isleworth in Florida on March 22-23.

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