Clarke: I’m at my wits’ end

IT isn’t always easy to feel sorry for a man who has made many millions of pounds from his sporting exploits at the age of 34 and is guaranteed to live in luxury for the rest of his life.

However, when he looks at you with the suggestion of a tear in his eye and admits: "I'm at my wits' end", you would need to have a heart of stone not to try to understand the anguish Darren Clarke is suffering. Money, after all, isn't everything in this world!

I felt something very much along those lines on Sunday evening having watched Clarke put himself through mental torture during the final round of the US Open at Olympia Fields, Chicago, and then listened to the despair in his voice as he attempted to describe just what had gone wrong in a closing round of 75 that left him floundering in 42nd position.