Clarke pours scorn on IMG event

YOU might have expected Darren Clarke to have enough on his plate with the $5.5 million American Express World Championship over the next four days followed immediately

But last night he took time out to blast the organisers of next month's Cisco World Match Play Championship at Wentworth. He scoffed at the grandiose title of an event that doesn't contain a single American of any note and went so far as to dub it "The IMG Invitational", a straight dig at the Mark McCormack-led company that owns the championship and has free rein to invite any players they like.

"I'm ranked 17th in the world, better than five of those they have invited, and they don't consider me good enough to play in their tournament," raged Clarke, a member of Chubby Chandler's International Sports Management stable.