Golf - World Rankings: Darren Clarke intends to get back into the world's top 50 as quickly as possible and is targeting a big performance at this week's Australian Open as the ideal way to start.
Clarke, speaking after he played a few holes of practice at Royal Sydney, is keen to perform well in what will be a whirlwind trip before Christmas Down Under.
"I'm excited to back down here again, some of the best courses in the world are down here so it's great to come back," said the 40-year-old, who is currently 66th in the world rankings.
"It's a long way to come for one week, two or three-week trips are not too bad but one week is pretty tough.
"But for me I'm chasing world ranking points. I want to get back into that top 50 again, and that's the main reason why I'm here."
Clarke is wary of a quality field which includes plenty of home contenders, including world number 16 and home favourite Adam Scott, who has recovered from a knee injury.
"It's a really good field," added Clarke, who won twice on the European Tour in 2008 - the BMW Asian Open in April followed by the KLM Open in August.
"Geoff (Ogilvy) won last week (Australian PGA Championship) and Rod Pampling has been in good form. Adam's here as well and he's one of the best players in the world so with them, amongst others, it's a really strong field."
For Clarke to guarantee his place in next year's US Masters - the first major of the 2009 season - Clarke needs to be in the top 50 by the end of the year.
Pádraig Harrington is the highest ranked Irishman at fourth with Sergio Garcia second and closing the gap all the time on Tiger Woods' number one spot as the injured American remains sidelined.
Henrik Stenson cruised to a wire-to-wire victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City yesterday.
The Swede carded a closing 68 for a 21-under-par winning total 267 to win by a staggering nine shots over Ryder Cup rival Kenny Perry, whose 65 was the best round of the day.
Robert Karlsson, who partnered compatriot Stenson to World Cup success at Mission Hills in China the previous week, finished third on nine-under-par.
Stenson's win from the select 12-man field moved the 32-year-old up five places to seventh in this week's rankings.
Ogilvy clinched his first professional win on home soil with a two-stroke victory in the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum over the weekend. After four international wins, including the 2006 US Open and two World Golf Championships, Ogilvy's latest win moved him up three places to 11th.
Jeev Milkha Singh picked up his fourth win of the year at the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup, making it two wins from four starts on the Japanese Tour. Singh climbed eight places to 36th.
- additional reporting PA
Official World Rankings:
1 Tiger Woods (USA) 12.88pts
2 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 8.42
3 Phil Mickelson (USA) 7.49
4 Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 7.30
5 Vijay Singh (Fij) 7.05
6 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 5.27
7 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 5.11
8 Camilo Villegas (Col) 5.09
9 Ernie Els (Rsa) 4.84
10 Lee Westwood (Eng) 4.76
11 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 4.67
12 Anthony Kim (USA) 4.65
13 Jim Furyk (USA) 4.58
14 Steve Stricker (USA) 4.16
15 Stewart Cink (USA) 4.09
16 Adam Scott (Aus) 4.07
17 Kenny Perry (USA) 4.06
18 KJ Choi (Kor) 4.02
19 Justin Rose (Eng) 3.93
20 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 3.53
Selected others:
33 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 2.90
49 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 2.32
66 Darren Clarke (NIrl) 1.98
103 Paul McGinley(Irl) 1.46
