Clarke has designs on spectacular return

LONG, difficult golf courses never bothered Darren Clarke. But a three week lay-off from competitive action is another thing — and that’s why he feels “a little rusty” for this US PGA Championship at Baltusrol.

A budding course architect, Clarke has been fascinated by the 7,392 yards, par 70 Baltusrol layout since he arrived in New Jersey on Saturday. Thirty six holes later, he seems to have little problem with a par five measuring 650 yards. At the same time, he assures us that he won’t afflict such pain on those playing the

courses that will bear his name at a number of venues throughout the world, including Pinnacle Point in South Africa and nearer home at Castle Dargan in Sligo and Moy Valley, Co Kildare.

“It’s one way of trying to combat how far the ball goes these days,” he said. “I think we’re going to see more of them, 500 yard par fours and 650 yards par fives are going to be the norm. But they’re not playing all that long. I didn’t hit anything more than a five iron into any par four. And there are those where you’re playing 7, 8 and 9 irons. So, although they look long on paper, if you hit the fairway, there are chances out there.”

Pressed as to whether that was the road he intended going down with his own designs, Clarke demurred: “No, if I wanted to toughen up a golf course, I’d make the greens rock hard and the rough a little more challenging around the greens. If you make the greens rock hard, then there’s a huge premium on hitting the fairways. You either go for length or making rock hard greens. And here they’ve gone for the former.”

Clarke’s season has been very much of the stop-start variety because of the ongoing battle with cancer being waged by his wife Heather. They have just returned from a hugely enjoyable two-week holiday at the luxury Sandy Lane hotel in Barbados, owned by JP McManus and Dermot Desmond.

“At the minute, she’s doing great and that’s why our holiday has been very, very important to us. She was critically ill eight weeks ago so to get away to Barbados for a couple of weeks was fantastic. We lay on the beach not doing an awful lot. Now she’s almost back to full health again and things are good at the moment which certainly makes it a lot easier for me to come back out and try and play.

“So I’m certainly very relaxed, maybe too much so, coming into this week. I was very frustrated on the Sunday of the Open Championship. I played well enough to finish up very high and I didn’t do it. I had no interest in touching a golf club until now. I wanted to get away somewhere and Barbados was fantastic for us. I did play a little golf on the Green Monkey, a new course down there, So I have practiced a bit, but from a competitive point of view, I’m probably rusty, but so be it.”

Ironically for the shortsighted people who decided to add another 20 twenty yards to the 17th, the 650 yard monster isn’t proving a serious problem for the players simply because not even the longest hitters can get home in two shots. As Clarke put it: “I’m going to play 17 like 99. 9% of the field, hit the fairway and leave yourself a sand wedge in. It’s 650 with not a lot of roll on the ball.

I don’t think the hole favours anybody and it’s going to be a three shotter for all.”

Furthermore, the consensus is that Baltusrol will not pose the anticipated difficulty because it is soft with the greens uncharacteristically yielding for a major championship. Clarke admits: “it’s fair and in great shape even if a little different because of so many par fours around 500 yards. But it’s soft at the moment so that will make the scoring pretty good. Still, the rough is thick and you don’t want to be in it too much. With so many long fours, there’s a premium on hitting it on the fairways.”

There appears to be a perception that the US PGA is the least important or significant of the four majors but it’s a view that an increasing number of observers are finding difficult to justify. This is chiefly because it comfortably boasts the best field of the four, with 96 of the top 100 in the world involved. And then there’s the venues they come up with, a new jewel in Wisconsin in 2004, the old (110 years) and traditional Baltusrol on this occasion. That clearly adds to the appeal of the PGA for Darren Clarke.

“I think all the majors are special but for this one, some of the courses we’ve gone to these past few years have been unbelievable“, he says. “Last year Whistling Straits was sensational. It’s my first time here at Baltusrol, I had heard a lot about it and it’s certainly surpassed what I’ve been told."