Darren Clarke revealed a sound golfing mind to complement his ample frame in the opening round of the $6 million Players' Championship at TPC Sawgrass yesterday. The outcome was a sensibly crafted 72 which he completed with an outstanding par into the teeth of a freshening wind.

Operating some way short of La Costa form Clarke had to place considerable reliance on a new-found maturity. "On a scale of one to 10, my game was about six and a half whereas my head was nine and a half. That makes a pleasant change," he said.

In the company of Americans Billy Mayfair and Brian Henninger, he was off the tee at 7.40 a.m. in an early-morning chill and for most of his opening nine holes conditions were favourable. It was only on his second shot to the treacherous, 447-yard 18th - his ninth - where he came up short with a four iron, that he realised the wind had risen appreciably.

"I'm glad I played the 17th this morning and not the way things are now," he said afterwards. "Hit it in a hurry and move on, that's the idea." But there was a little more to it than that. In fact Clarke hit an exemplary eight iron to nine feet below the hole and two-putted for a comfortable par.

His play of this menacing little hole was perhaps typical of his overall strategy on a day when his swing was not a 100 per cent. With the pin towards the front for a yardage of 132 and a moderate breeze slightly from the right, Clarke chose at least one club more than he needed to reach the island target. He then hit a typical Royal Portrush shot, punching the ball gently with a shortened follow-through so as to impart the minimum of potentially damaging backspin.

Having started on the 10th, he shot six solid pars before carding his first birdie at the long, 507-yard 16th, which he reduced to a drive, three iron and a chip to four feet. But he returned to level par at the 18th where, by his own estimation, he hit "four perfect shots and made five."

On the outward journey - his back nine - he dropped a further stroke by three-putting the fifth, after an over-zealous first putt careered eight feet past the target. But he recovered the stroke at the next where he was rather fortunate to see a wedge approach find a gap in the trees. And he rode his luck by sinking a 20-footer for birdie.

His closing par, at the 583-yard ninth, seemed improbable when he pulled his drive into trouble on the left. From there, Clarke sensibly laid up short of the stream which traverses the fairway, but it meant a forbidding third shot of 233 yards, into the wind.

In the event, he chased a three-wood into a greenside trap; escaped to nine feet past the pin and then held his nerve to make the difficult, downhill putt for a splendid par.

"I'm very pleased to have ground out a good score," he said. "This is a seriously tough course in that wind and the greens are getting faster by the minute. I certainly feel I got a bit of an edge by playing this morning. The par is probably 74 right now."

It is his third competitive visit to a course which is acknowledged as arguably Pete Dye's most treacherous creation. On his debut in 1998, Clarke missed the cut after rounds of 74 and 79. On returning last year, he was tied 71st after miserable rounds of 79 and 78 at the weekend.

Yesterday's performance maintained that upward curve. Which, of course, is no more than we would expect from one of the world's leading players, on current form.