Clarke hopes to end European title bogey at Valderrama

DARREN CLARKE is under pressure going into the Volvo Masters at Valderrama today, knowing he is just this event away from failing to win on the European Tour for the first time since 1997.

It’s a strange kind of statistic on two counts: first because 1997 was actually the year in which he first played in the Ryder Cup and helped Europe, under the captaincy of Seve Ballesteros, to pull off a thrilling victory here at Valderrama.

Second, Clarke has played some beautiful golf through 2004 and has finished seven times in the top five without actually making the winner’s rostrum.

“Yeah, that hurts pretty badly and to come out on top this week would mean a great deal to me,” he said.

“I’ve been second here to Monty and even though the rain will soften it up a bit, the course is in great condition as always. I’ve always liked Valderrama, probably because it’s so hard and I’ve always tended to do best on tough courses. If you miss the greens on the wrong side, you’re in trouble. You can be on the fairway and be blocked out, so placement of the tee shot is all important.”

It remains to be seen if Clarke has the patience to cope with four intensive rounds over a course with some of the slickest greens in golf. He is a good putter but tends to get down on himself if he misses a few opportunities and that’s sure to be the case at this particular venue. Nevertheless, he’s in tip-top mental shape after two weeks away from the competitive arena, during which he got in quite a few company days - one for Jaguar in Britain, another for Barclays Capital, his chief sponsor, in the States.

From Valderrama, he hopes to move on to the States for their season-ending Tour Championship starting in Houston next Thursday. The top 30 in the money list qualify and he is currently 27th. He was more than a little interested to learn that the four players immediately behind would each have to win $200,000 in this week’s Chrysler Championship and, as he said with a little smile, “that’s not likely to happen”.

After that, he’ll play the Visa Teiyeho Masters in Japan, the Nelson Mandela Invitational in Cape Town and the Nedbank Challenge at Sun City before calling it a day for the season.

Clarke vividly recalls leading the European order of merit coming here in 2000 for the American Express World Championship, but Westwood finished second behind Mike Weir of Canada, Darren slipped back to 15th and another coveted ambition flew out the window. As it happens, Westwood is one of his best friends and they play together today in the third last match of the day.

Whereas Clarke is more than hopeful of chalking up an elusive first win of 2004, Paul McGinley has travelled far more in hope than expectation.

He ruefully admits that he “has never played well at Valderrama and I don’t know why. I just find it difficult. I have never performed here and that’s a disappointment. I’m currently 19th in the order of merit and my aim is to climb into the top 15 which would get me into next year’s US Open.

“I’m already into the British Open as a member of the Ryder Cup team. I feel hard done by at being no better than 19th in the money list because I’ve played great this year. It only goes to show the standard on tour.”

His final word on the Volvo Masters?

“My game is okay but I’ve no thoughts of winning because I never played well here. I’ll have a different strategy this week, I’ll be trying to get around and have a decent performance for once.”