On his way to Pinehurst earlier this week, Butch Harmon stopped off at Las Vegas where he did some business with his own version of Jimmy the Greek. In fact he had three, separate $500 bets on players to win the US Open - Tiger Woods, Mark Calcavecchia and Darren Clarke.
They happen to be the three current beneficiaries of his coaching skills in an elite field of 156 for the 99th staging of the blue riband of American golf. "I got 50 to 1 about Darren," he said with a broad smile. But he stopped short of pointing to possible winnings of $25,000. While Harmon was discussing moderately high finance, Clarke was busily hitting balls into an ominously grey sky. "He doesn't really want to talk to Butch - that shows you how well he's feeling," enthused his manager Andrew Chandler.
After capturing the English Open at Hanhury Manor nine days ago, Clarke is easily at his most confident entering this, his fourth successive US Open. In previous challenges, he missed the cut at Oakland Hills in 1996, was tied 43rd at Congressional in 1997 and had the same finish at the Olympic club 12 months ago.
"Darren's come a long way since we first met two months ago," said Harmon. "I like what I see. The changes I recommended weren't radical (mainly to do with greater width in his swing), but he's obviously done the work. This is a very good course for him and I think he's got a chance of doing really well here."
Clarke certainly seems to think so. "I can't remember when I felt this strong going into a major," he said. "My confidence is sky high and it's a great bonus to be at a course that I really like. I think No 2 is a beautiful and really challenging layout."
When I suggested that his colleague, Lee Westwood, had just described it as a shotmaker's course where the ball has to be worked to the target, he retorted with feigned anger: "That's what I said: he's stealing all my lines." Then there was an acknowledgement of the priceless contribution that architects such as Donald Ross have made to the game.
"It's a case of the old ones being the best," said Clarke. "Look at any top-10 list of the world's leading courses and you won't find any of the modern ones in there. That's why I feel privileged to have played so much of my golf at Royal Portrush, where some of the greens present the sort of difficulty you have here."
Like Westwood, he will be using a three-wood for chip-and-run shots up the slopes to the putting surfaces. But he believes the putter will be the most important club in his bag - along with patience. How was he going to achieve the latter commodity? "Now, now. Some of us need more time to mature than others, but I feel I'm getting there," he replied. "I certainly know what to expect at this level, where you are often forced to play defensive golf."
In 14 major championship appearances, Clarke has missed five cuts but has two top-10 finishes to his credit. The first of these was in the British Open at Royal Troon two years ago, when he was tied second behind Justin Leonard, and the next came in last year's US Masters in which he was tied eighth behind Mark O'Meara.
After two very rewarding practice rounds since his arrival here on Monday morning, he is optimistic about expanding that list. Even to the point of giving Harmon's Las Vegas bagman some anxious moments over the weekend.
