‘All I ask for is etiquette’ – Darren Clarke’s time of reckoning ticks closer

"It has been draining because of my character," Darren Clarke says as he prepares to captain Europe's Ryder Cup team in a vociferous sporting competition they have dominated recently. The United States are desperate to end a miserable run after losing six of the last seven events and, on home turf this week, at Hazeltine in Minneapolis, the US are favourites against a team in which Clarke will have six rookies to choose from.

“I’ve put my heart and soul into it,” Clarke says intently when we meet a few days before the death of Arnold Palmer and on an afternoon when golfing fervour swarms through him. “Am I sleeping well? No – because I want to give my guys the best opportunity to play well and win. I wake up in the middle of the night and think: ‘Did I do that? Did I do this?’”

Clarke once told me the biggest flaw in his game was his perfectionism – and an exhausting pursuit of ideal circumstances that are usually impossible to attain. “Very much so,” he says with a grin. “Have I been the same way this time? Totally. I go into great detail to ensure everything possible has been done.”

There is a fanatical streak in Clarke – and he admits readily to having obsessive–compulsive disorder – but his team are fortunate that their captain is also aware of the vast difference between sport and real life. He has a reputation for being tetchy to some interviewees but Clarke’s layered past is far more interesting than whether or not he is in the mood to be charming. Of course it helps that he is relaxed and hospitable today and we can talk about him growing up amid the Troubles and his reaction to personal devastation.

Ten years ago this month he produced one of the most memorable displays of Ryder Cup golf when, only weeks after losing his wife Heather to cancer, Clarke won all three of his matches at the K Club. His steely performance was followed by a very human reaction at its tearful conclusion, as victory was tempered by grief. After such tumult, which we addressed in an interview that year, Clarke should control his emotions in a mere sporting arena.

“That’s the big difference. Ten years ago was incredibly testing. The most pressure I will ever, ever feel is on the first hole of that 2006 Ryder Cup. Walking to that first tee, hitting that first shot, the world watching so soon after losing Heather, was like nothing else. Nothing compares to that intensity. Down the stretch at the Open in 2011 [when Clarke won his only Major], did that experience help me win? I guess it did. The Ryder Cup first tee is a place where very few people get to stand and, in 2006, the pressure was unbelievable.”

Clarke smiles at the tears that followed – when he said men from County Tyrone were not meant to cry or hug one another. But his emotion was uncorked after his singles opponent Zach Johnson conceded the putt that gave Clarke the win. “It was a lovely gesture which meant so much. I will cherish forever the support I got from my team and the Americans.”

This week a fevered home crowd will provide partisan support but Clarke is suitably sanguine. “All I ask for is etiquette when our team hit their shots. Home support is an integral part of the Ryder Cup and creates its unique atmosphere. It’s going to be loud because Davis Love III [the USA captain] and his team want to win it back. But it’s a huge compliment to Europe that America have formulated a taskforce to figure out how to win.

“The atmosphere is going to be right on the edge. But Davis and I have been friends a long time and if anyone moves over that line I’m sure he will step in. If roles are reversed I’ll do exactly that. It’s not life or death. It’s sport – a game of golf.”

It’s illuminating to meet Clarke in Belfast and to reflect on how far Northern Ireland has moved from sectarian violence. Hearing him talk about a conflict as bloody and tangled as the Troubles underpins his emphasis that the Ryder Cup, which can carry a militaristic jingoism in the US, is nothing more nor less than sporting theatre. “Belfast has a wonderful feel about it these days. There are great restaurants and bars. We’re so far along the peace process that people are too used to it to ever let it go back to how it was.”

Clarke grew up 40 miles away in Dungannon and he grimaces when asked if the worst of the Troubles reached his home town. "Oh, they did. They were all over the place. Dungannon was right in the middle of an area where lots of dark stuff happened. There was trouble everywhere. Thankfully we've come a long way from those dark old days but we didn't give in to fear. People in Northern Ireland are very resilient. Throughout the Troubles they battled on to live as normally as they could."

It seems incredible that, in Belfast in the 1980s, boxers from Republican areas would be embraced on the Loyalist Shankill Road – and amateur fighters from fiercely unionist territories were proud to box for Ireland. “Golf was another mixed one,” Clarke stresses. “A few sports were untouched and we all played for Ireland. There is no Northern Irish golf team. Same with boxing, rugby and swimming. I was fortunate to be in two unifying sports. I played rugby and golf and they were inclusive. I was Protestant but it was no problem playing for Ireland. I was lucky because my parents got me travelling around Ireland playing in boys’ tournaments. My eyes were opened to a big and different world and I wasn’t here day in, day out, while the Troubles were raging.”

Clarke’s love of the Ryder Cup coincided with the advent of a European team to replace Great Britain and Ireland as the USA’s opponents. “I was born in 1968 and swept up in the Ryder Cup as a teenager. Seve [Ballesteros] changed everything when Europe became part of the Ryder Cup [in 1979] and it’s grown massively.”

The 2016 Ryder Cup is being held only weeks before a US election where, disturbingly, Donald Trump harbours hopes of becoming president while Britain and Europe are still absorbing the Brexit fallout. Clarke, unsurprisingly, does not indulge in Brexit discussions. “It’s irrelevant,” he stonewalls.

Surely the European players talk about Brexit? “No. Our game is global. At the end of the day we will stand proudly under the European flag. Whether or not the UK is going to be part of the European Union is irrelevant because we’ll always be on the continent of Europe. The Brexit thing is a complete irrelevance.”

Clarke's final wild-card pick, having added the experience of Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, boiled down to a choice between Russell Knox, a Scot who is the current world No19, and Thomas Pieters, a young Belgian who is 42 in the rankings. Clarke chose Pieters.

“Russell is a great player and it was a very difficult phone call. I don’t like letting people down but I go back to 2008 and Nick Faldo didn’t pick me. I was upset but I understood I hadn’t done enough as a qualifier. That was me being philosophical and, maybe, thinking at some stage I might be lucky enough to have to make the same decision. But I understood exactly how Russell was feeling.”

Knox had suggested before the announcement that Clarke should feel a “moral obligation” to pick him. “I could tell he was bitterly disappointed but I would expect that,” Clarke says diplomatically. “If he wasn’t disappointed it wouldn’t mean much to him. He sent me a really nice text afterwards and massive respect to him for doing that.”

Clarke and Pieters played together for the first two days in a Danish tournament – where the Belgian shot an astonishing opening-round 62. “He played phenomenally but I’ve been keeping my eye on him a long time because he’s a rare talent. But I hadn’t made my mind up until I watched the way he finished that tournament with birdie, birdie, birdie on the last three holes to win. To do that when you need it most to give yourself the best chance to make the Ryder Cup was very impressive.”

He underlines his belief that Pieters has a talent that warrants comparison with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. “Yes. Thomas is the same. He’s heading to the very top.”

The art of Ryder Cup captaincy resides in selection – especially in terms of pairings. “I am 90per cent there in knowing my Friday morning foursomes,” Clarke says. “The afternoon fourballs are trickier. Midway through those morning matches I’ve got to pick the afternoon pairings. I will have my ideas but I have to be fluid.”

The USA are under immense pressure but Clarke will also feel a weight of expectation – after sustained European supremacy. “I don’t look at it that way,” he insists. “Each Ryder Cup is a new event. Yes, it would be unprecedented for Europe to win four times in a row. Yes, I would love to add another European victory to the list. If they play the way in which I know they can we’ll have a great chance of winning again. But the past is past.”

Two years ago, Europe’s captain, Paul McGinley, invited Sir Alex Ferguson to address his Ryder Cup team. Clarke, an ardent Liverpool fan, also met Ferguson at the Masters this year. “I sat down with Fergie for an hour and had a wonderful conversation. To have the opportunity to talk to one of the best managers – if not the best manager of any sport in the world – meant an awful lot. I had all my questions ready and taped the whole thing. Some of the answers were expected and some were definitely ones I learnt a lot from. I’ve done the same with lots of people – from Rory Best at Ulster Rugby to lunch with Michael Vaughan last week. It would be stupid if I wasn’t taking advice from people who’ve done it before.”

Will he ask a famous character to talk to his team? "I do have someone in mind. I obviously can't tell who you it is – but it's an iconic sports figure. My five vice-captains have also been fantastic. I've got the experience of Sam Torrance, the straightforwardness of Paul Lawrie, the political corrections of Thomas Bjorn, the passion of Poults [Ian Poulter] and thinking on a different level from Padraig Harrington. It's a special combination."

Ten years ago, after his emotional victory at the K Club, Clarke apparently drank 24 pints of Guinness on the Sunday night. Does that number seem feasible? “Totally! But this time I will be very reserved in my captain’s role. On Sunday I’ll have a few drinks but I will have commitments on the Monday, so I have to be sensible. But after Monday I get my life back.”

It’s a life that has been scarred by division and loss, by obsession and death. But now, wrapped up in a consuming sporting drama, Clarke looks as hopeful as he is driven. “It’s going to be very close,” he says, “but another win for Europe would be wonderful.”

Guardian Service