BRITISH OPEN champion Darren Clarke is finding it difficult to motivate himself after his remarkable win at Royal St George’s in July.
“I’ve done what I’ve always wanted to do – got to the top of the mountain,” Clarke said yesterday on the eve of the Dunhill Links Championship.
“So what else can compare to it? If you ask anybody if they’ve achieved their lifetime goal, they’ll probably tell you ‘how do you keep, going and going?’
“What else is there to do? I’ve achieved my lifetime goal. I’ve managed to win the tournament I’ve wanted to win from when I first started playing golf, the biggest and best tournament in the world.
“I’ve no idea how people like (Olympic five-times gold medallist) Steve Redgrave do it, keep going for more.”
The 43-year-old Dungannon man achieved his British Open dream at the 20th attempt.
“What else can compare to it? Winning it again would be good,” Clarke said. “I’m in every Major for the next five years, so I’m going to have more chances.”
Another of Clarke’s goals is to make a sixth Ryder Cup appearance. With a huge haul of points on offer this week in the event played with an amateur partner over three courses, St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, he is aware he can launch his Ryder Cup campaign in earnest this week.
“We’re playing for an awful lot of prize money this week, Ryder Cup points and world ranking points,” he said. “I would dearly love to make the (Ryder Cup) team next year and I want to give myself every chance I can to do that.”
Clarke has been scathing in his criticism of the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles, which will stage the 2014 Ryder Cup and also host the final qualifying event for Europe’s team in 2012, and admitted he would put his personal opinion to one side and play there next year if he needed to qualify for the Ryder Cup.
And although the 43-year-old Ulsterman stands by his criticism of the course, he would be prepared to play there next autumn if he needed points to make Jose Maria Olazabal’s side to defend the trophy at Medinah in Chicago.
Speaking about the Centenary Course during the 2007 Johnnie Walker Championship, Clarke said: “It’s unbelievable they chose to stage the 2014 Ryder Cup on this course. There are unbelievable courses in Scotland, not least of which are the two others at Gleneagles, the King’s and Queen’s. So it’s beyond my comprehension they’ve chosen to have the Ryder Cup on this course.
“I’m going to be ripped for saying what I’ve said. But I just can’t see it as a Ryder Cup venue, Ryder Cup golf course, and it’s a shame.”
Asked yesterday if he would play at Gleneagles next year, Clarke added: “Very good question. If I had to go back I definitely would. The Ryder Cup is much more important than my personal opinion.”
Since lifting the Claret Jug, Clarke has played in four European Tour events, missing the cut twice and finishing 68th and 35th in the Bridgestone Invitational and European Masters – the opening qualifying event – respectively.
