Clarke shrugs off loss of tournaments

DARREN CLARKE has reacted philosophically to the news that there will be no British Masters or English Open this year and that the Seve Trophy has been renamed the Vivendi Trophy because of the critical state of the world’s finances.

“You’ve got people losing their jobs left, right and centre at the moment,” he pointed out. “We lose a tournament or two, it’s no big deal. There are more important things going on in the world.”

Clarke did well to complete his first round at Baltray yesterday in one under par 71 given that he was two over having played the back nine first. However, he is still far from happy and went so far as to compare his game with that of his 11 year-old son Tyrone.