Dashing Darren never changed his ways

IT WAS a chilly, windy morning for the third round of the Irish Close Championship at Tramore in 1987.

Kerry All-Ireland footballer Mick Morris was one of the favourites for the title and I joined him playing the 11th. When I enquired as to how he was getting on, Morris replied with an almost incredulous expression: “I’m playing the golf of my life but I’m six down to this kid.”

And it was then that I laid eyes on Darren Clarke for the first time, 24 years ago. He was only 18 at the time, believe it or not he was as slim as a pencil, more than two inches over six feet and all the more conspicuous because of his carefully manicured shock of peroxide blond hair.