Darren Clarke goes into the US Masters tomorrow with high hopes – regardless of his wildly fluctuating form so far this year. Clarke finished in the runners-up spot at the 1997 Open and finished seventh and ninth in the last two majors last season.
“I think my game is very solid at the moment and I'd like to see if I could give myself a chance come Sunday,” said the world number nine, who tees off with Ryder Cup team-mate Miguel Angel Jimenez and former winner Craig Stadler in the first two rounds.
The best piece of advice Clarke reckons he has ever received about Augusta National is to be patient - and he readily admits with a smile: “That is not one of my virtues really.”
Well-known sports psychologist Bob Rotella has been called in to help him in that department. “He's trying to get my head sorted out, which is no mean feat. I'm trying not to let things bother me as much. I'm slightly winning at the moment - but I'm probably breaking Bob.”
“I get pretty hard on myself, and it's good to go back and see the kids and mess about. It just takes my mind off it a bit. Whenever things are not going that well I tend to get very much into my technique. I try to figure out my swing and then forget what I'm actually supposed to do.”
“I try to hit every shot perfectly, and that doesn't work. Bob reminds me that the idea is just to get the ball in the hole in as few strokes as possible, however you do it."
Clarke has failed to follow up his victory over Tiger Woods in the world match play championship in California 14 months ago in the way he hoped. But that is where patience comes in as well.
“Nick Price didn't start winning majors until he was 35, and Mark O'Meara won two in a year when he was 41. I'm not panicking just yet.” (PA)
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
