Golf:Just a few weeks after half-joking about giving up golf for a while because things were going so badly, Darren Clarke bounced back into the spotlight as he took the Scottish Open first round lead with a flawless 65 at Loch Lomond today.
Clarke, spurred on by fellow Northern Irishmen Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, arrived in Scotland fresh off his win at this week’s JP McManus pro-am at Adare Manor.
Though Adare was by no means the same test as a tour event, he was still up against 11 of the world’s top 15 players. Winning is a habit and any win must be welcome. In any case a better return with the putter has been the main reason for his recent turn of fortune.
And there is an added incentive for the 41-year-old as this week is his last chance to grab a place at next week’s British Open in St Andrews.
“I’ve been on Tour for a long time,” said Clarke when asked about the one St Andrews spot on offer. “This is the first round and there’s an awful long way to go, but of course I would love to qualify.”
Clarke, whose last win on tour was the 2008 Dutch Open, needs to be inside the top six and the highest ranked player not already exempt if he is to win a place at St Andrews and hopes his good putting continues.
“I clicked into something at the French Open in Paris and all of a sudden I started making putts again,” added Clarke. “With me golf is very much about confidence and if I’m putting well it works backwards and through the rest of my game.
“I’m still working as hard as ever on my game but am just not getting the results and then I get frustrated. Yes, the win at Adare was nice and it does help the confidence. I’m the sort of player who needs and thrives on confidence because when I’m down, I get very down.”
As for his recent “I feel like quitting” comments Clarke said: “Yeah, the red stool in the Harbour Bar in Portrush was looking very good for a long time.”
“But I was just frustrated. Sometimes I make the game as difficult as I possibly can for myself.”
There were no such concerns today for he enjoyed a bogey free round of six birdies – four on the front and two on the back nine – in some of the worst conditions of the day. At six under it left the Ryder Cup hero one ahead of England’s Graeme Storm, Italian Edoardo Molinari and fellow countryman Damien McGrane, who all carded 66s.
The leader picked up his final shots on the 13th and 14th and then made a saving par from a greenside bunker on the last during a torrential downpour.
“It was pretty tough. The wind was swirling it got very wet for the last couple of hole,” he added. “Hopefully I can keep things going for the rest of the week and we’ll see what happens.”
Graeme McDowell, returning to Tour life three weeks after his US Open triumph at Pebble Beach, trails Clarke by six after what he described as a “mixed bag” round of 71.
Masters champion Phil Mickelson is on the same level par mark as he began his bid for the top two finish which would take him to world number one and swap places with Tiger Woods for the first time.
“It was a pretty boring round to be honest. I wasn’t very sharp. I do expect to improve as the week goes on,” said Mickelon, echoing McDowell’s sentiments.
Irish Open champion Shane Lowry (68) was next of the Irish players on three under, two ahead of Peter Lawrie (70). Gareth Maybin joined McDowell on level par, while Michael Hoey and Paul McGinley could only mange three-over 74s.