BMW Championship: The reigning US Open champion Michael Campbell yesterday sang the praises of Darren Clarke, saying the Ulsterman had gone up in his estimation "tenfold" for what happened at the Irish Open.
Two shots ahead with 10 to play when bad weather ended play for the day at Carton House on Sunday, Clarke returned the following morning to find his ball in a much better lie in the rough than he had left it.
Although officials gave him the all clear to take advantage of the situation, Clarke chose to chip out with a wedge rather than go for the green because he did not think it was the right thing to do. He bogeyed the hole and went on to finish third, two strokes behind Thomas Bjorn.
The European circuit has moved on to Wentworth now for the BMW Championship starting tomorrow and Campbell said the incident had become a talking point. "There's a lot of talk between the players and he's gone up in my estimation tenfold," said the New Zealander. "I have great respect for what he did. To basically penalise himself due to his lie 24 hours later was amazing.
"That's the beautiful thing about this game. It's a real gentleman's game and he's upholding the integrity of the game of golf and himself. It's just one of those things that should be repeated more often, I think. We've had cases in the past where we've had a few bad examples set on the golf course.
"But for Darren to do that I think shows how big a person he is character-wise. Takes a lot of guts to do that - he's definitely made us look good. If you ask all the players what would they do in the situation I would say half would probably go for the green and the other half probably chip out. No parties are actually wrong if you think about it because that's just the rub of the green. He got lucky, but he probably felt it wasn't the best thing to do so he chipped out sideways.
"That shows he's a wonderful character and with what he's been through in the last two or three years (Clarke's wife Heather is battling cancer) it's just a great thing to do."
This week's field boasts Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Adam Scott and Luke Donald from the world's top 10, and the challenge they face is much tougher after Els, a Wentworth resident, was brought in by the club and changed 17 of the 18 holes.
The other star pairings for the first two rounds include Els with Irish Open winner Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez, and three-time winner Colin Montgomerie with Padraig Harrington and former Open champion Ben Curtis.
The defending champion Angel Cabrera is with Howell and Campbell, Goosen and Scott with Paul Casey, Donald with Lee Westwood and Australian Nick O'Hern and Clarke partners Jose Maria Olazabal and Henrik Stenson.
Wentworth Tee Times
SELECTED FIRST ROUND TEE-TIMES (Irish in bold, British unless stated)
Starting at hole One
07.00 - Gary Murphy, Andrew Marshall, Jamie Donaldson. 07.30 - Peter Lawrie, Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Stephen Hamill 07.40 - Bradley Dredge, Richard Green (Aus), Kevin Stadler (USA). 0750 - Barry Lane, Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Ross Fisher. 08.00 - Ian Poulter, Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Graeme McDowell. 08.10 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Ernie Els (Rsa), Thomas Bjorn (Den). 08.20 - Padraig Harrington, Ben Curtis (USA), Colin Montgomerie. 08.30 - Michael Campbell (Nzl), Angel Cabrera (Arg), David Howell. 08.45 - Scott Drummond, Sandy Lyle, Kenneth Ferrie. 08.55 - Ian Woosnam, Paul Lawrie, Brian Davis.
10.05 - Alastair Forsyth, Damien McGrane, David Park. 10.15 - Stuart Little, Marten Olander (Swe), Scott Henderson. 10.40 - Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Simon Edwards (USA), Robert Coles.
12.00 - Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Jonathan Lomas, Chris Kelly. 12.15 - Andrew Coltart, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Gary Orr. 12.25 - Johan Edfors (Swe), Anthony Wall, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra). 12.35 - Nick Dougherty, Paul McGinley, Niclas Fasth (Swe). 12.45 - Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Nick O'Hern (Aus). 12.55 - Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Darren Clarke, Henrik Stenson (Swe).
13.05 - Retief Goosen (Rsa), Adam Scott (Aus), Paul Casey. 15.00 - Ian Garbutt, Gordon Brand Jnr, Darren Prosser. 15.20 - Brendan McGovern, Wade Ormsby (Aus), Alessandro Tadini (Ita). 15.40 - Fredrik Widmark (Swe), Ben Willman, Peter Fowler (Aus). 15.50 - Matthew Tottey (Wal), Michael Kirk (USA), Steven Jeppesen (Swe) .
