Clarke sets sights on World Championship hat-trick

DARREN CLARKE tees off today in pursuit of something only Tiger Woods has achieved and something which every other golfer can currently only dream of – a full set of World Golf Championship individual titles.

Four days after watching stablemate Lee Westwood continue his remarkable return to form, Clarke hopes to turn the spotlight back on himself at the American Express championship in Atlanta.

The Ulsterman wants to add the trophy to the Andersen Consulting matchplay he won in California in 2000 by memorably beating Woods in the final - and the NEC Invitational he dominated in Ohio in August.

"The putts didn't drop last week, but the way I've been playing since the NEC obviously I have a chance here," he said. "I've been in contention every week."

No other European has been able to win a single World Championship event since their introduction to the golfing calendar four years ago, but 20 of them are in this week's 72-strong field at the 7,189-yard, par 70 Capital City Club Crabapple course.

Woods is the defending champion, as he is a lot of the time when it comes to the World Championships. Including the two-man World Cup he has won seven of the 14 he has played in, earning just short of $9 million in the process.

Both Clarke and Westwood are among the late starters.