Clarke's contracts worth up to £1m

Darren Clarke has ended a six-year endorsement contract with the Irish-based company MacGregor. But a package of new and existing deals is set to make the Tyrone-man more than £1 million in off-course earnings this year.

According to his manager, Andrew Chandler, Clarke turned down the renewal of a club, bag and visor arrangement with MacGregor "because they offered him stock options instead of money". When the first, three-year deal was signed in 1994, it was worth $250,000. Now, Clarke is ready to move on. The indications are that he will sign a bag and visor deal with the South African computer company Dimension Data, given that he has contracted to play next week in the tournament they sponsor. He may continue playing MacGregor clubs, but without a club contract, he will be free to tinker around with any combination he wishes.

Clarke's three main existing contracts are with Titleist (ball and glove), Conte de Florence (clothing) and Portmarnock Links. And according to Chandler, two further contracts are in the offing, including a deal with an Australian sun protection company.

Clarke finished eighth on the European Tour last season with tournament earnings of Stg £522,350, along with $139,118 from 10 events on the USPGA Tour. Currently ranked 19th in the world, he is eighth on the all-time European career money winners' list, with £3.207 million. And he can expect his income to be further supplemented by about £200,000 in appearance fees this year.

Chandler has also decided to tackle the player's obvious fitness problem. It seems that whether Clarke likes it or not, he will have to respond to the demands of a personal trainer, as well as a dietician from the Centrum company, to which colleague Lee Westwood is contracted.

Meanwhile, James Loughnane is Ireland's lone representative in the South African Open, the second-oldest Open championship in the world, which gets underway at Randpark GC in Johannesburg today.

Lee Westwood, who begins his 2000 campaign this week, says he is intent of avoiding getting sucked into "the comfort zone" of the European Tour.

"My goals will be in the Majors, the world championship events and the tournaments I'm going to play in America, focusing a bit more on those and trying to win a bit more over there," said Westwood ahead of the Stg £625,000 event.

Defending champion and local favourite David Frost, Bernhard Langer and former Open champion Nick Price are all in the 156-strong field alongside last week's winner, Anthony Wall.

Retief Goosen will also be favoured to do well. The 30-year-old South African fired a final-round 66 to finish fourth last week and the long course will suit his strong game, with Randpark playing every inch of its 7,513 yards after the recent rain.