As Darren Clarke walked the fairways of Medinah yesterday in a practice round with Ryder Cup skipper Mark James, it was clear that much of the hurt remained. And quite a deal of anger, too. "If this wasn't a major championship, I wouldn't be here," he said bluntly.

Eight days on, the wounds were still raw from a final round of 75 which saw Clarke squander a six-stroke lead in the European Open at the K Club, where his friend Lee Westwood captured the title. But there was also a stubborn determination never to re-live that grief.

"I want to think about it so that I can learn from it," he said. "I certainly don't ever want to feel that badly again."

That he could talk quite openly about the matter was something of a triumph in itself. And his golf hasn't suffered, certainly not at a practice level. Only last Saturday, he shot a nine-under-par 62 around the New Course at Sunningdale - "and it could have been a few shots lower".

Prior to events at the K Club, he and Westwood had planned to travel to Brookline, Boston, last Sunday for a practice round at the venue for next month's Ryder Cup. But they scrapped the idea to give Clarke more time to come to terms with himself. The therapy seems to be working.

"It's amazing how negative I became last week, even about the good things that happened to me at the K Club," he went on. "For instance, instead of taking pride in my round of 60, I could only think of missing out on a 59. And looking back on what was a fine 66 on the Sunday, I could only think of how unlucky I was to have a hole in one at the wrong hole (at the fifth, where there was no prize).

"But I now realise that there was much to be positive about, even in my final round of 75. The only problem there was my putting. In fact I wouldn't want to change anything, tee to green, in that I hit 12 fairways and 16 greens in regulation, which is good golf in any circumstances. But 38 putts ruined everything.

"I know that other players have had these sort of set-backs. But the thing that really killed me was that it happened in Ireland. I desperately wanted to be the first player to win a European Tour event in Ireland since John O'Leary (who won the Irish Open in 1982). That's the thing that really shattered me.

"When the round was over and the chance had gone, it was the worst I've ever felt walking off a golf course. I can now say that with certainty. All last week I kept telling myself to let it go, but I couldn't.

"And I believe that's not necessarily a bad thing. I knew I had messed up a great chance of winning an important tournament and that's what I'm out here for." Then there was a sudden flash of anger. "Not one putt could I hole," he spat. "I didn't even have the satisfaction of holing that short one on the last, for second place on my own."

During the course of his round with James yesterday, there was very little talk about last week's events. All the Ryder Cup skipper said to Clarke was: "You played well but those things can happen to anybody. Bad luck."

In the immediate aftermath of his European Open collapse, Clarke received numerous messages of support, while nursing his wounds with his wife, Heather, and baby son, Tyrone, at their home in Sunningdale. They included "a very special one" from his mother, father and sister. "It did a lot to ease the pain," he said, before adding, "but I was also very grateful to know that my real friends cared so much."

After two days, he decided it was time to snap out of it. So he played golf with friends at Wentworth on Thursday and at Sunningdale on Friday and Saturday. "My ball-striking was as good as it has been for the last few months," he said, with irony.

Despite everything, Clarke was feeling decidedly upbeat about only his second challenge in this championship: he missed the cut at Winged Foot two years ago after rounds of 74 and 79. Indeed his target is to match or even improve on a US Open performance at Pinehurst No 2 in June, when he finished 10th behind Payne Stewart.

"I love this course," he said of Medinah, before hitting a four-iron tee-shot at the 206-yard 17th, which has been lengthened by 30 yards since Hale Irwin won the US Open here in 1990. Other, minor changes include a rebuilding of the greens at the first, second, 13th and 16th holes.

The last of these will please Billy Casper, who said of the severely-sloping 16th green after winning the 1966 Western Open: "They ought to dynamite that sucker." As a compromise, architect Roger Rulewich has flattened it.

"It's time to get back to work," said Clarke, while powering a superb drive up the 18th. "The European Open will remain with me for some time, but that's not going to stop me winning again."