DARREN CLARKE is going to give his Ryder Cup wild card bid one more push at Gleneagles this week – even though he may well have done enough already to be on the team again next month.
After a hugely impressive four-stroke victory over Paul McGinley at the KLM Open in Holland yesterday, it will be a massive surprise if Nick Faldo does not now make the 40-year-old Ulsterman one of his two captain's picks on Sunday.
With Paul Case
y seventh in The Barclays tournament in New Jersey last night, that could be that for the final spots in Faldo's line-up – and, if it is, Colin Montgomerie and McGinley will miss out and so will Open runner-up Ian Poulter unless he forces his way into an automatic place in Scotland.
Clarke, who last year slammed the course where this week's Johnnie Walker Championship takes place and where the 2014 Cup match will be staged, was asked if he was tempted to rest on his laurels and stay at home. "What, and not go to Gleneagles?" he beamed. "The thought had crossed my mind!
"No, I am playing great and the Ryder Cup is a huge thing for everyone, but I have other things that I want to do as well.
"I want to move up the world rankings and Order of Merit and Gleneagles is another big tournament. At the end of the year I want to be sitting down having my Christmas lunch thinking that I am in all the big tournaments again next year."
He failed to make it into The Masters, US Open and Open this season.
That festive lunch will, of course, be with his sons Tyrone and Conor and what made his latest win all the more special was that they had never before been present when he triumphed.
After the loss of their mother, Clarke's wife Heather, to breast cancer two years ago – just six weeks before he amazingly won all his three games in the K Club thrashing of the Americans – the three have all helped each other through.
"Chilled out is the way I seem to play my best golf and they definitely helped – we had a lot of fun this week," he added. "They are very proud of their daddy, I think. I still think about my late wife, but the only thing that really helps is time. My boys are two happy boys and we are all getting on with things.
"I think I am doing a pretty good job of it. It is very sad and I still think about her a lot, but I have got to move on for me and my boys.
"I said I needed to play well these two weeks to have a chance of a pick and it always feels good to do it when you really have to.
"I can't do anything about the situation. It's up to Nick and who he sees fit to help the team."
Pressed on whether it would be a crushing blow if Faldo does not name him, Clarke added: "No it wouldn't. That's the captain's prerogative – that's why he is the captain. It's his call and if he thinks there are other guys more deserving of a pick then I have no problem with that whatsoever.
"If he decides not to pick me then whoever is on the plane will be part of a really strong team going there."
His record with Lee Westwood – they were the two wild cards last time – is another reason why, with Montgomerie having been off form lately, Clarke looks odds-on. Three ahead with a round to play at Kennemer, he found himself one behind when he bogeyed the second and Henrik Stenson birdied the first three. But Clarke was not flustered – "I am 40 years old, 6ft 2in and a little bit overweight. Not much frightens me," he stated – and a six-birdie 66 meant McGinley's 64 was not nearly enough.
While Clarke has been on the last five Ryder Cup teams and Montgomerie the last eight, McGinley has played the last three. The 2002 match-winner hopes that with one tournament left to count he might yet enter Faldo's thought for a pick. But given who else is in the same position, even a win in Scotland might not be enough for the man who resigned as a vice-captain to try to play his way in. Whether Faldo would then offer him a return to his backroom team remains to be seen.
The full article contains 765 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
