Clarke looks for positive after missing the Target

GIVEN the manner in which he failed to capitalise on a winning position in the Target World Challenge in California on Sunday, one might expect Darren Clarke to be beating himself up.

However, Darren has more pressing things on his mind and was even able to conceal his embarrassment at two appalling putts on the 17th and 18th with a rueful smile. Sure, he left himself open to criticism but this time he also looked for positives. "I put myself in position to win again. I have gone first, second, second in my last three tournaments. I hung in there and didn't play badly. I'm disappointed to finish the way I did; two bogeys out of three was not very good. The one on 18 didn't make any difference, but the bogey on 16 was a bit of a disappointment."

Clarke has a lot of Ryder Cup ground to make up but insists he will go into 2006 with his confidence a lot higher than it was earlier this year. "I had two days where it went really well and two days where I didn't swing it quite so well. To finish second was not bad. I'm disappointed, but I'm not going to be too hard on myself. I would like to have won but it's not that important and Tiger has given me a nice enough Christmas present."