Clarke loses driving seat

Darren Clarke's hopes of a repeat of the glorious 63 he shot last Sunday at Hilversum took a huge jolt when he played this new European Tour course of Kungsangen, near Stockholm, yesterday. Clarke hardly got out the driver, his most lethal weapon, and used irons on seven of the first nine holes.

Nevertheless, the Ulsterman sets off this morning with the aim of going one better than last week's runner-up placing behind Australian Stephen Leaney. A £133,330 first prize could take him to number two in the European rankings but he will need all the brilliance he found in the final round of the Dutch Open last Sunday.

As yet another deluge left the Scandinavian Masters pro-am players squelching around the course yesterday, Clarke said: "I've got the memory of a 63 to keep me going but I played very average again today. "This course is very different to most we play. It poses a few challenges. The greens are quite severe and there are some tough shots to play at most of the holes.

"You have to play a lot of irons off the tees. On the front nine, for instance, I hit seven iron shots off the tees. But last Sunday was a tremendous lift for me. I'm looking forward to getting out there."

Clarke has played down his chances of order of merit success this year, even if he were to rise to number two on Sunday, because of his commitments in the US. Those commitments, though, which include the final major, the US PGA Championship, in Seattle in a fortnight, could be thrown awry by the birth of his first child.

"Everything will depend on how Heather and the new baby are. There may be a change of date from the August 6th we were planning for her going into hospital and everything is a little up in the air at the moment. Let's just say the birth is imminent. My playing in Seattle will totally depend on how things have gone."

Ireland's Dunhill Cup team is also up in the air. Clarke is already in for St Andrew's but three are battling for the two remaining spots - Paul McGinley, 27th on the rankings, Padraig Harrington, 34th, and Philip Walton, 42nd.

Walton has been creeping up on McGinley and Harrington and, with just the Scandinavian Masters and the German Open in Berlin next week, the Malahide man has made St Andrews his aim.

McGinley is £32,000 in front of Walton and Harrington is £12,000 in front. McGinley will try to keep Walton at bay this weekend.

"I think it's great Philip is going all out to catch us," said the Dubliner. "It's great for the Irish team that it's so competitive. That's the best way to have a team that wants to win. I'll certainly not be sitting back. If Des Smyth (91st) gets a sniff, he'll be in there, too!" Smyth, Eamonn Darcy and Raymond Burns make up the Irish contingent in Sweden, where Colin Montgomerie hopes his putting fortunes will change.

"My putting has been a problem for two years and it was definitely a problem in the Open," the five-time European number one said. "I had 37 and 33 putts at Birkdale. That's 10 too many.

"Missing the cut was disappointing but in a way it may have been a blessing in disguise. It's given me a rest and I've been able to work on my game."

Also in the field is Justin Rose, celebrating his 18th birthday today, Jesper Parnevik and Raymond Russell, who were tied for fourth with Rose at Birkdale, Jose Maria Olazabal and defending champion Joakim Haeggman.

Card Of The Course Hole Yards Par Hole Yards Par 1 355 4 10 457 4

2 394 4 11 433 4

3 386 4 12 196 3

4 170 3 13 459 4 5 482 5 14 449 4

6 161 3 15 295 4

7 454 4 16 202 3

8 372 4 17 520 5

9 536 5 18 470 4

Out: 3,310 36 In: 3,481 Total: 6,791 yards. Par: 71.