Darren Clarke demonstrates his style

DARREN CLARKE insisted last night he was not one of those intimidated by Tiger Woods and chided Colin Montgomerie for thinking along those lines.

“It’s the golf course you have to beat, not Tiger”, he declared. ”He is a fantastic player, probably one of the best the game has ever seen. But the guy doesn’t win every tournament he plays. If you’re worrying about what Tiger is going to do every day he plays, then you’re wasting your time and beating your head against a brick wall. If you don’t have enough confidence in your own ability to challenge him, there’s no point in playing the game”.

It’s recent history that the 33-year-old Ulsterman had two good chances of winning the Open in 1997 at Troon where he tied for 2nd, and last year at Lytham, where he was third in spite of taking double bogey at the 71st hole. He was also 7th at St Andrews in 2000 so he is now well acquainted with the ingredients required to go all the way in an event of this magnitude.