Pressure on Darren to deliver

DARREN CLARKE will have started his first round in the British Open Championship at Royal St George’s this morning before many people have left their beds.

He has a tee time of 7.36am along with Davis Love 111 and Shingo Katayama, and before noon we will know whether he is on course to mount a meaningful challenge for his first major championship.

The 34-year-old from Dungannon is widely regarded as being ideally equipped to win this event more than any other of the big four, but in fact he has been in contention on remarkably few occasions since he made his first appearance at Royal Birkdale back in 1991.