Clarke could opt out of Ryder Cup

Darren Clarke’s bid to win a place on Europe’s Ryder Cup team will be a major theme of the next two months.

But even if he qualifies, Clarke is unsure whether he would be available for the first-ever match on Irish soil.

Clarke is in contention this weekend for the Smurfit Kappa European Open on the K Club’s Smurfit course near Dublin, which adjoins the lay-out where Europe will defend the trophy in September.

Victory could take him 11th in the points race, but the Ulsterman, whose wife has been battling cancer for two years, said after a second-round 68 today: “Even if I was in the team I don’t know that I would be able to play in it. Heather’s struggling a lot at the minute.”

Asked about having the chance to grab a first win of the year Clarke added: “I haven’t thought about that. I haven’t been playing a lot of golf of late.

“This is an opportunity for me to go out and play and hopefully I will be able to play in the Open in a couple of weeks, so if I can get myself under a bit of pressure at the weekend I will see how my swing changes are holding up.”

There were six birdies for him in the testing windy conditions, but the 37-year-old admitted he had a couple of strokes of luck too and for the large part it was “pretty good grinding”.

Not that that comes hard to the father-of-two at the moment.

“With all the things going on, there is no point giving up on anything,” he stated.

Clarke has been a member of Europe’s last four sides and despite all the events he has missed recently he is still ranked 20th in the world and is the eighth highest-ranked European.

The Palmer Course across the River Liffey is where he fired a European Tour record 60 in 1999 and where he won this title in five years ago.

But his desire to play pales into insignificance compared to family matters.

“Things are tough for me at the minute,” Clarke added, “but when I come out here I still want to play well.”