Sport

No draws for Clarke

Darren Clarke wants to light up the world of golf this year - without lighting up himself

Sat Jan 09 1999 - 00:00

Darren Clarke wants to light up the world of golf this year - without lighting up himself. Clarke, runner-up to Colin Montgomerie in last season's European Order of Merit, has given up smoking in the hope that being healthier will also make him a better player.

"I had so many second places last year and maybe now and again I was getting a bit tired coming down the final few holes," said the 30-year-old Ulsterman. "I want to see if giving up cigarettes makes a difference - very few of the top players smoke.

"It's also anti-social nowadays and sets a bad example. The better I play the more I'm on television and I think it looks terrible. A close friend died and I have had enough of it. I started when I was about 15 and smoked about 30 a day."

As well as finishing second on the money list, Clarke had four runners-up finishes during 1998, the last of them to stablemate Lee Westwood in the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan in November.

READ MORE

"It was on the plane back from there that I decided to stop," he added. "I wore patches for about 10 days and put on about a stone in the next month, but now I have a personal trainer and it's starting to come off again."

This week Clarke has been helping out at the tour's MacGregor training camp at San Roque in southern Spain.

The week is mainly intended for those embarking on the circuit for the first time, providing fitness, psychological and financial advice as well as tuition from Seniors Tour number one Tommy Horton, Montgomerie's former coach Dennis Pugh, John Jacobs and "putting doctor" Harold Swash.

"My main advice is practice, practice, practice," stated Clarke. "And when you think you've practised enough, go and do some more."

While the newcomers attempt to start climbing the ladder to fame and fortune, world number 17 Clarke, who already has both, reckons he is only about halfway up. "I want to get into the world's top 10 this year." Told that he was 66 to 1 for the US Masters in April, the Ryder Cup player, eighth on his Augusta debut last year, replied: "That's a very good price and I'll probably have a bet on myself. They're very good odds for a course that suits me."