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 yesterday.
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 in Limerick.
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 Clarke’s 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 150th 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 came at 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.”
As for his recent “I feel like quitting” comments Clarke added: “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 yesterday for he enjoyed a bogey-free round containing 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 holes,” 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.
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.
Goydos Shoots 59
PAUL GOYDOS became the fourth US PGA Tour player to shoot a 59, with a 12-under-par round yesterday at the John Deere Classic.
Goydos (46), a two-time Tour winner, sank a seven-foot birdie putt on the 18th at the TPC Deere Run Course in Silvis, Illinois, to cap his flawless round.
He birdied eight of the final nine holes after making four birdies on the first nine.
