Clarke skips Pinehurst warm-up

Quite understandably, family matters have taken precedent over golf for Darren Clarke who has decided not to play in this week's Booz Allen Classic at Congressional, which was due to serve as his build-up to the next week's US Open at Pinehurst No 2.

A decision on whether he plays in the season's second major has yet to be reached.

Clarke last played at the BMW Championship at Wentworth two weeks ago, but withdrew prior to his scheduled third round to be with his wife Heather who underwent surgery in her on-going battle with secondary cancer. The player's original itinerary had included a three-week stint in the States taking in Congressional, Pinehurst and the Barclays Classic at Westchester, before missing out on the European Open at The K Club, before resuming with a three-week stint in Europe taking in the Scottish Open, British Open and the Deutsche Bank TPC in Germany.

That intensive schedule has already changed and future weeks are now, obviously, dependant on Heather's health although, on his website, Clarke did say they were hoping for "good news" on the issue.

While Clarke's departure to the States has been delayed for at least another week, Padraig Harrington - who remains number nine in the latest world rankings released yesterday, with the most dramatic rise being that of Memorial tournament winner Bart Bryant who rose 49 places to 31st - resumes competitive play at Congressional, a course where he made his US Open debut in 1997. He missed the cut on that occasion.

Harrington is starting out on a four-week long stint that will see him play three tournaments in the US - the Booz Allen, the US Open and the Barclays Classic - before coming back to Europe for the European Open in Straffan. The Dubliner intends to bypass the Scottish Open, resuming play at the British Open at St Andrews.

Incidentally, moving the Booz Allen to Congressional, one of America's highest rated courses, has turned out to be a master stroke with no fewer than eight of the world's top-10 - Harrington, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Chris DiMarco - deciding to compete.

Also in the field will be Fred Couples, who finished runner-up to Bryant (who earned an exemption into the US Open as a consequence of his victory) at the Memorial. Couples has been plagued by back problems in recent years and his appearance at the Memorial was his first outing since the US Masters. However, it was the start of a four-week stretch for the ever-popular American who nowadays is playing with a back brace, as once advocated to him by the late Payne Stewart.

Couples first decided to use the brace when suffering so badly at the Masters in April, he had to go to the physiotherapy unit before one of his rounds. "I went into the trailer and one of the guys suggested wearing it. It's basically the one Payne Stewart used to wear . . . the pants down to here and then you just Velcro this thing on as tight as you can get it.

"I never wore it before because it's so tight and it's not the easiest thing to get used to, but I didn't really have a choice. It actually worked out well. I ended up making the cut at Augusta and I played with this thing because I felt like it did matter, and I got used to it. It's been very helpful just from a standpoint of keeping things really tight and maybe not moving much because that's when I get my problems."

Couples remembers his friend Stewart asking him a number of times in the mid-'90s to wear the brace. "I think I put it on, but never playing. It's so tight and uncomfortable, but at Augusta, I mean, I literally crawled around the course. It was the worst week I've ever had. But I decided to put myself through the wringer there," said Couples, who added that his back problem was now recurring "way too often." Still, despite a restricted playing schedule, Couples' best performance of the season at the Memorial moved his season's earnings on the US Tour to $946,017 (42nd position) and brought his career earnings to $17,490,59, placing him 12th on the all-time career money list.

Of the four Irish players with exempt status into next week's US Open, Harrington is the only one playing this week. Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell have both decided to take the week off, which means the Irish challenge at the Dutch Open at Hilversumsche consists of Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Stephen Browne and Philip Walton.

On the Challenge Tour, there are six Irish players - Justin Kehoe, Eamonn Brady, Peter Williamson, Michael Hoey, Colm Moriarty and Tim Rice - playing in the Thomas Bjorn Open in Denmark while, on the European Seniors Tour, Denis O'Sullivan, who was forced to withdraw from last weekend's AIB Irish Seniors Open at Killenard prior to the second round, has been given the medical go-ahead to resume playing in this week's Jersey Seniors Open.

O'Sullivan is part of an Irish contingent that also includes Paul Leonard, Eddie Polland, Liam Higgins and John Curtis.

EUROPEAN TOUR ORDER OF MERIT (Irish positions) - 8th, P McGinley €690,910; 25th, P Harrington €276,363; 36th, D Clarke €224,657; 37th, P Lawrie €223,822; 60th, G Murphy €159,687; 62nd, G McDowell €158,418; 63rd, D McGrane €157,212; 150th, D Higgins €40,800; 170th, C Moriarty €30,100; 202nd, M Hoey €18,034; 237th, S Browne €8,149; 292nd, P Walton €1,107.