Clarke flies home to be with sick wife

DARREN CLARKE’S 2005 campaign is over. For the second time this year, he has felt obliged to withdraw at the halfway stage of a major tournament.

In May, he quit after 36 holes of the PGA Championship at Wentworth when his cancer-stricken wife, Heather, fell seriously ill. A brave girl and a fighter if ever there was one, she rallied well and less than a month ago felt fit enough to spend a week on holiday in San Tropez with Paul McGinley’s wife Alison.

However, fluid in her lungs is currently proving a major problem and Darren says he would be much happier to be by her side back in Surrey.