BRITISH OPEN champion Darren Clarke admits his pride has been wounded as he begins yet another attempt to spark his career back into life. Heading into the Volvo World Matchplay Championship at Finca Cortesin, Spain, the 43-year-old is still searching for his first top-10 finish since Sandwich last July – and has yet to make a halfway cut this season.
“My pride has been hurt. That’s enough motivation,” Clarke said yesterday. “I don’t need anything else. I’ve been so frustrated with the whole thing because I’ve been trying so hard. Too hard probably – not to justify the Open win, but to back it up. It’s not as if I’m being lazy. Whenever I’m in Portrush I’m beating balls in all weathers.
“I don’t want to play the way I’ve been playing and I’ll just keep going, keep going, keep going – it will turn round at some stage.”
It is not an excuse, but Clarke, who will receive his OBE from the Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in two weeks’ time, does point out his commitments have increased 10-fold following his Major win. “I’m not very good at saying ‘No’,” he admitted.
“My schedule has been chaotic and that’s why I didn’t go to the Players Championship last week . . . Hopefully, one of these days, my game will click back into place.”
Thoughts of a return to Ryder Cup team action – his last appearance was that emotional week at The K Club in 2006 when he won all his three games only six weeks after his wife died from breast cancer – are distant from his mind. “I’m so far out of the reckoning, but there’s still a long way to go,” added Clarke.
The only two tournaments where he stayed to the end this season were those with no cuts. He was 20th out of 35 at the Volvo Golf Champions in South Africa and 43rd out of 72 in the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami.
That event was won by Justin Rose and it is him and fellow Englishman Robert Rock that Clarke takes on in the group stages. The 24-strong field is divided into eight groups of three, with the top two progressing to the last 16 after round-robin games. Rose finds himself the second seed with 10 of the 11 players ranked ahead of him turning the event down.
Martin Kaymer, the world’s number nine, is top seed and is grouped with Dubai Desert Classic winner Rafael Cabrera-Bello and England’s Richard Finch.
Defending champion Ian Poulter starts against Australian John Senden today and then will play Tom Lewis. Paul Lawrie, playing his 500th European Tour event, is up against Peter Hanson and Camilo Villegas, and Graeme McDowell faces Robert Karlsson and South African Jbe Kruger.
WORLD MATCHPLAY
Course: Finca Cortesin, Casares, Andalucia, Spain.
Prize money: €2.75 million (€700,000 to the winner).
Length: 7,380. Par: 72. Field: 24.
The layout: Exposed course which can be made very difficult by the ever changing direction of the wind. The generous fairways are lined by gorse to punish the wayward drive. The rough is easy enough to escape from but the fast undulating Bentgrass greens pose a serious threat.
Defending champion: Ian Poulter beat Luke Donald in the final.
Type of player suited to challenge: Big hitter but someone able to tame the very fast greens.
Key attribute: Power.
Weather forecast: Fair with a consistent light breeze.
On TV: Live on Sky Sports 3 from 1pm today.
