Darren Clarke desperately wants to climb the world rankings in 2007 and will start that bid by competing in his first European Tour event of the year at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters this week.

Clarke took a step back from golf last year to be with his wife Heather, who eventually lost her battle with cancer in August.

After playing in the Open at Hoylake in July the Ulsterman participated in only five tournaments - one of which was the Ryder Cup - and slipped down the world rankings to 42nd.

But earlier this month Clarke helped the European team defeat Asia in the Royal Trophy in Bangkok and he is now looking for a solid display on his return to a stroke play event tomorrow.

He said: "I am playing this week, next week (Dubai Desert Classic) and Malaysia so I have three tournaments in a row and I want to get back competing again.

"My game was a bit rusty in Bangkok which wasn't surprising because I had played five tournaments since last July so I am obviously short of competitions.

"But I managed to do reasonably well there and I'm looking forward to getting back in a position to challenge over the next three weeks.

"It is a new start for me again and I have got to get back into my job and I want to do that and get back to competing regularly.

"I am 42nd in the world rankings having not played and I want to get back up those rankings again and the only way I can do that is by playing well.

"There are lots of world ranking points available here which is great. Any time we get a field as strong as this on a European Tour event there are a lot of points on offer .

"That is why I think if we get a lot of the top-ranked players playing we get a lot of the rest of the guys coming along as well because you know you can make considerable leaps up those rankings if you do well."