Darren Clarke has been lost in the golfing wilderness since his dramatic and
emotional Ryder Cup performance at the K Club, near Dublin, in September
2006, a matter of weeks after his wife, Heather, had died of breast cancer.
Clarke’s performance that week was sensational. On the opening day he arrived
on the 1st tee to a spine-tingling roar from a partisan and sympathetic
Irish crowd and somehow kept a grip on his emotions and his club before
flushing his drive down the middle on his way to a hole-winning birdie, from
which he never looked back.
Clarke picked up three points out of three as Europe secured a crushing,
record-equalling victory over the United States, partnering Lee Westwood,
his great friend, in both four-ball matches and beating Zach Johnson 3 and 2
in the singles.
After the climax, however, came the anticlimax and with it a loss of form as
Clarke, left with two young sons, Tyrone and Conor, had to take stock of his
life on and off the course.
At the start of Ryder Cup week in 2006, the Northern Irishman was ranked No 24
in the world, but as he went into the Joburg Open last week he was
languishing at No 229 and was but a blip on the horizon for Nick Faldo, the
Europe captain, for the match at Valhalla, Kentucky, in September.
But Clarke will arrive in the Middle East this week at the start of the
European Tour’s three-week swing through Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai in a
much better frame of mind, having finished fourth in Johannesburg with an
11-under-par total of 273, two strokes behind Richard Sterne, of South
Africa, who triumphed in a three-man play-off.
It was Clarke’s second top-five finish in successive events in South Africa
and is a sign that things are returning to normal for him. He has a new
girlfriend in Kerry Schiller, a Texas-born American, and looks to be
enjoying his golf again.
in Abu Dhabi, Clarke will be joined by nine of the most recent Ryder Cup team
— the absentees are Sergio García and José María Olazábal — knowing that his
form is returning fast and that he has kick-started his chase for Valhalla.
Others, among them Colin Montgomerie, David Howell and Paul McGinley, will
be hoping to do the same. All three are sinking in the rankings and will
need a good start to the year.
They will face stiff competition from a growing band of exciting and confident
young players, such as Nick Dougherty, Simon Dyson, Marc Warren and Martin
Kaymer, as well as Rory McIlroy, the teenage sensation from Northern
Ireland. Add to them, Ian Poulter, Niclas Fasth, Miguel Ángel Jiménez and
Thomas Björn, Ryder Cup players all, and the next eight months are certain
to prove interesting.
The team will be made up of five players from a world points list, then five
from a European Tour money list and two captain’s picks. The Johnnie Walker
Championship at Gleneagles, in the last week of August, is the final
counting event, but were Faldo to lead out his team tomorrow, it would have
a most unfamiliar feel to it.
In the standings, only Westwood and Robert Karlsson from the 2006 team are in
the top ten, with six “rookies” in Justin Rose (a virtual certainty), Daniel
Chopra, Dougherty, Steve Webster, Soren Hansen and Soren Kjeldsen. Faldo’s
picks aside, it is impossible to imagine a team without García, Padraig
Harrington, Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson.
Could the same be said of Montgomerie? He won once in 2007 (the European Open
at the K Club) but had an average year. He has fallen to No 59 in the world
and is not guaranteed entry into the major championships or the WGC events,
which is where the big money and world-ranking points are to be found.
In Montgomerie’s favour — if he requires a captain’s pick — is a magnificent,
talismanic, Ryder Cup record. He has played without break since his debut in
1991 and is only 1½ points shy of Faldo, whose record of 25 points in 11
appearances makes him Europe’s leading scorer.
The Scot is unbeaten in eight singles matches, having won six and halved two,
and showed how much he thrives in this environment by beating Payne Stewart
in the abusive pressure cooker that was Brookline in 1999. But that is in
the past and Faldo is looking to the future. Rest assured, sentiment will
not come into the equation. If Faldo thinks that Montgomerie can do a job,
he will pick him. If not, he will not. It is as simple as that.
How they stand at the start of Ryder Cup year, with eight months to go
Europe (Captain: Nick Faldo)
Standings
1, Justin Rose (Eng)
2, Daniel Chopra (Swe)
3, Lee Westwood (Eng)
4, Ian Poulter (Eng)
5, Nick Dougherty (Eng)
6, Steve Webster (Eng)
7, Robert Karlsson (Swe)
8, Soren Hansen (Den)
9, Soren Kjeldsen (Den)
10, Miguel Ángel Jiménez (Sp)
— The 37th Ryder Cup will be played at Valhalla GC in Louisville, Kentucky,
from September 19 to 21.
— The first five players in the Europe team will qualify from the
world-ranking points table, with the next five qualifying for the team
through earnings in European Tour events. The captain has two picks.
— Players must play a minimum of 11 European Tour events to become eligible;
these can include the four majors and three WGC events.
— Virtual certainties: Padraig Harrington, Sergio GarcÍa, Henrik Stenson, Luke
Donald, Paul Casey.
— Dark horse: Rory McIlroy.
United States (Captain: Paul Azinger)
Standings (before finish of Sony Open)
1, Tiger Woods
2, Jim Furyk
3, Zach Johnson
4, Steve Stricker
5, Woody Austin
6, Hunter Mahan
7, Stewart Cink
8, Joe Durant
— This year the top eight players on the US ranking list, instead of the first
ten, will gain automatic selection for the team. The captain has four picks.
