Clarke’s Ryder Cup dream over

DARREN CLARKE said goodbye to his dreams of playing in this year’s Ryder Cup last night at Whistling Straits but revealed he still has plenty of objectives for the rest of the season.

The 42-year-old posted a closing one-over-par 73 at the US PGA Championship to finish the final major of the year at one over par, some 14 strokes behind 54-hole leader Nick Watney’s starting position. Despite a mid-season flourish that saw him finish runner-up at the Scottish Open and tied for 12th at the 3 Irish Open last month and re-enter the world top 100 rankings, that was not enough to kick-start a charge up the European team points list that would have persuaded him to keep playing until the August 29 deadline.

Instead, Clarke will take a two-week break, finalise his move back home in the north after a decade in London and get his two sons started in their new schools safe in the knowledge he will be at Celtic Manor regardless in his role as one of three assistant captains to Colin Montgomerie.