In the wake of decidedly moderate form in the Alfred Dunhill Cup, Darren Clarke rejected the view that the tournament meant little to him. And he further explained his reasons for turning down the chance of playing for Ireland in the World Cup at Kiawah Island next month.
"From my amateur days, representing my country has always meant a lot to me and I'm disappointed that people might think otherwise," he said yesterday. "In fact it remains a special thrill for me to pull on the green jumper, whatever the circumstances."
But what of the World Cup? "That's not a matter of turning my back on the Ireland team. Like a lot of the players, I hate the format - it leads to desperately slow rounds, sometimes longer than five hours."
According to Clarke, tiredness was the reason for his disappointing form at St Andrews, where he shot rounds of 77, 71 and 68 to lose his first two matches and win the last one on Saturday. "I wanted to take a rest after the Ryder Cup but I felt obliged to defend the German Masters title," he said.
Clarke went on: "In a way, I've been a victim of my own success. Because of my British Open performance and world ranking, I got an invitation into the World Matchplay, which was also a week I might otherwise have taken off.
"As it happens, next year will be even more hectic, but I have planned my schedule much more carefully. For instance, I won't be going to Australia or South Africa and my first European tournament will be Dubai (February 26th to March 1st)."
Meanwhile, he has opted out of this week's Oki ProAm which starts on Thursday at the La Moraleja courses in Madrid. For the first 36 holes, competitors will play one round on La Moraleja I and one round on La Moraleja II. Then, after the cut, the final two rounds will be played on La Moraleja II. Ireland's competitors this week are: Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, Des Smyth, Raymond Burns and David Higgins. It is a crucial event for Higgins, who will have happy memories of last year when he finished in a share of ninth place behind Tom Kite for prize money of £9,454.
A comparable return would be extremely welcome this time around, as he is languishing in 157th position in the Order of Merit. If Higgins doesn't get into the top 150 by next Sunday evening, he will have to go to the second Pre-qualifying School starting next Tuesday at venues in Spain and France. "I probably need about £2,500 to get out of trouble," he said. That is based on there being three, effectively non-counting affiliate members above him in the list. Either way, he will have to make the cut and, in a break from his recent pattern, improve his position through the weekend.
Harrington, who has played 28 Order of Merit events so far this year, will be competing in only four more tournaments - the Oki, the Volvo Masters, the Sarazen World Open (November 6th to 9th) and the World Cup (November 20th to 23rd). Two weeks after that, he is getting married.
In addition to those same tournaments, McGinley will be making a debut appearance in the Hong Kong Open later next month. It may appear to have been a rather quiet year for the 30-year-old Dubliner, but it is, in fact, his second-best since joining the tour in the autumn of 1991.
Currently 39th in the Order of Merit with season's earnings of £140,835, McGinley needs £29,565 to break through the £1 million barrier in career money. "Things are a lot better than people have been giving me credit," he said. "Obviously I haven't done as well as last season, when I won the Austrian Open, but I've been making steady cuts."
He went on: "Still, I'm conscious of the big step that Darren has made this year. He has shown all of us the way by getting himself into a position of being able to play basically anywhere he likes. That's the target I'm setting myself for next season."
In yesterday's piece about Joakim Haeggman's record 27 for the outward journey at St Andrews in the Alfred Dunhill Cup, I wrote that he was a stroke outside the front nine of 28 by Mark O'Meara in the same event last year. This should have read "inside the front nine . . ."
