GOLF:Darren Clarke has been through the mill but his game is as good as it has been for ages, he tells Philip Reid

You could be forgiven for thinking Darren Clarke had chosen a lonely vocation. Yesterday morning at the ungodly hour of 5.50am, he took his three-wood from caddie Billy Foster on the first tee and launched his first shot of a fruitful practice round he would finish just over three-and-a-half hours later with a smile on his face.

Clarke's last action of his early-morning rendezvous with the Carnoustie links was to hit four approach shots to the 18th green. When the last finished two feet from the hole, the Ulsterman decided enough was enough. The putter stayed in the bag and Clarke duly collected the balls that had peppered the green. The hard part of his day's work was done, and his mind was already wandering ahead to spending the afternoon alone in his favourite off-course pursuit: fly-fishing.

There have been signs in recent weeks Clarke's season has started to change. Finally, it seems, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Having endured a spell of missed cuts that started in February and totted up to seven by the time he finally managed to stay around for the weekend at last month's Buick Open in Michigan - a lowly 142nd on the European Tour money list - Clarke has managed to rid himself of the frustration that had started to eat away at him.

"No, the past few months have not been very enjoyable," admitted the Dungannon man, who is competing in his 17th British Open. "Some of the times I haven't played that badly but I haven't been able to post the scores that I wanted.

"I've been working hard. I've spent a lot of time just working, working, working, and it is nice to see things turn around again. I know better than most through adversity of late that you've got to keep going. You've got to persevere.

"There was increasing frustration, but I knew I was gradually getting there. The whole thing was that I didn't realise how all the stuff that happened last year was going to affect me. People deal with it in different ways. I got through the Ryder Cup and then the harsh reality set in and it has taken me a long time to deal with it.

"Obviously, it was frustrating and disappointing to play as poorly as that . . . but it was going to happen, it was part and parcel (of dealing with the death of his wife, Heather)."

Also, he discovered that, there being a disparity in measurements for American and European clubs, he had been having the wrong shafts fitted.

"They measure the shaft differently over there and wrong ones for me were going in. With all the other things that have been going on these past three years, with other things taking precedence, I just didn't know it was the clubs.

"But, since we've got to the bottom of it, my ball flight has gone back to the way it used to be."

The British Open is Clarke's favourite tournament of all, bringing him back to his golfing roots on traditional links courses. But last year's edition, at Hoylake, ended in bitter disappointment; he missed the cut (for only the third time) after a second-round 82 and then decided to put away his clubs to be with Heather.

Now, Clarke is back - his place in the field coming thanks to his membership of Europe's Ryder Cup team - and he likes the way the course here has been set up.

"The course is magnificent, absolutely fantastic. I love it, one of the best courses in the world, and they haven't messed with it this time.

"I'm not going to stand here and tell you that I am going to win this week, because I haven't been up there for a while. But right now, my game is as good as it has been for a long, long time. Whether that turns into good scores on the golf course or not, we'll see. As regards ball striking, chipping, putting and everything else, my game's as good as it has been.

"I'm really looking forward to it."

His dream world this week would be for the fish to bite and the putts to drop.

Given all that has happened to him this past year, you figure he's due a break or two.