Darren Clarke: ‘I don’t sleep. It’s non-stop’

Darren Clarke will take a step back from his hectic schedule as European Ryder Cup captain next week with a diary free of official business. Yet while on the face of it there will be some calm before the dramatic storm of the resumption of golfing rivalries with the US at the end of the month in Minnesota, it is doubtful the Irishman will be sleeping any easier.

The 2011 Open champion, charged with maintaining Europe’s dominance in the biennial matches for a fourth successive time when the teams convene at Hazeltine on September 30, is leaving nothing left to fate as he bids to deliver his 12-man team the perfect foundations to go out and repeat the consecutive wins of 2010, 2012, and 2014.

And that will include seemingly every waking hour of even a quiet few days away from European Tour duties next week. Speaking yesterday, after conducting a putting masterclass with Aer Lingus at St Anne’s Golf Club on Dublin’s Bull Island, Clarke admitted the Ryder captaincy was all-consuming.