Ask any of the ageing generation of professional golfers and the first thing they are likely to blame for their deteriorating performances and slide down the rankings is their putting. “Tee to green, I’m playing great,” they will say. “But the putting is killing me.”

Many of them bemoan their luck on the greens — almost as if the gods are determining their fate — while the truth of the matter is that they have simply lost belief in themselves and, with that, their technique. The hard part is getting it back. Some never do.

Is Darren Clarke one such player? His peers will tell you that he is far too good to be languishing at No 240 in the world. But he missed the cut at the Andalusian Open last week after taking 66 putts in two rounds and yesterday his putting spoilt what promised to be an outstanding first round at the Portuguese Open here.

The 39-year-old Northern Irishman opened with a birdie and added three more and an eagle in the next eight holes to reach the turn at Oitavos Dunes on six under par — a point at which, in his prime, the Ryder Cup star would have been thinking of bettering the course record of 64.

In fact, on a day of exceptionally low scoring on soft and receptive greens, that was left to Pablo Martín, the 21-year-old defending champion from Spain, whose round of 63 included eight birdies, ten pars and 28 putts, and Grégory Bourdy, 25, of France.

There were also rounds of 64 for two other Spaniards, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño and José Manuel Lara, and Michael Jonzon, of Sweden, and of 65 for a host of others. According to Simon Dyson, his playing partner, Clarke seemed to be benefiting from a putting lesson on the eve of the event. “For the first nine holes, the hole must have looked like a dustbin for him,” he said. “Everything was going in dead weight, right in the middle.”

But when confidence is low, the doubts soon creep in. And when Clarke took three putts at the 18th, his eleventh (curiously, half the field started on the 8th), for his first bogey of the day, he suddenly lost momentum. He dropped a further shot after three-putting the par-three 3rd and paid the price for a wayward tee shot with a bogey at the 6th.

Then, as if to underline his recent travails, Clarke had a putt for an eagle at the par-five 7th, his last, only to three-putt the hole for a dispiriting par and 31 putts in all. His three-under-par round of 68 was respectable, but could have been so much better. “I am happy with my game but I am wasting shots,” he said. “Any momentum I get, I give it straight back.” And therein lies the rub.

— Karen Stupples led England’s challenge at the Kraft Nabisco Championship yesterday — the first women’s major of the year — taking an early first-round lead with a five-under-par 67 at Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, California. Stupples, a major-winner in 2004 at the Weetabix British Open, had five birdies and did not drop a shot. Lorena Ochoa, the world No 1, opened with a 68.