Clarke ready to move into overdrive

Darren Clarke's season may seem to have started slowly - even if it does include a win in South Africa - but he is set to click into overdrive over the coming months. In fact, having played in just six tournaments over the past four months, the world number eight returns for this week's Spanish Open which will mark the first of 14 tournaments in just 16 weeks.

With a schedule that has been devised to focus around the majors and other bigmoney tournaments, the 32-year-old Tyroneman plays in this week's European Tour event in Girona and next week is committed to a tournament in Japan. After that, he plans to take a week off before a six-week stretch that starts with the Benson and Hedges at The Belfry and then takes in some of the season's biggest money tournaments, including the Deutsche Bank-TPC of Europe, the Volvo PGA, the British Masters and the US Open.

Clarke, who is languishing in 57th place in the Order of Merit, is one of five Irish players who will compete in the Spanish Open. Des Smyth, who has received a special award from the European Tour to mark his win in last month's Madeira Island Open, when he became the oldest winner on the tour, returns to competitive action for the first time since that victory, while Eamonn Darcy, Ronan Rafferty and David Higgins are also competing.

One man who has a good track record in Spain, but who won't be playing this week, is Padraig Harrington. Although he won this tournament in 1996, for his maiden victory, and also won last year's Turespana Open, the Dubliner - who has spent the past month in the US - has decided to head for a week's coaching with Bob Torrance in Largs, Scotland.

Harrington has been something of a globetrotter so far this season, but all the travelling seems to be having an effect. And, although he is entered for next week's Portuguese Open, he is considering withdrawing, which would mean his next tournament appearance would be at the Belfry, scene of his dramatic, final-day disqualification in last year's Benson and Hedges.

"I won't make a decision on whether or not I play in Portugal until after I meet with Bob," said Harrington, before departing Hilton Head where he finished in tied59th place in the Worldcom Classic, won in a play-off yesterday by Jose Coceres.

Harrington's schedule has since him play in Australia, the Far East (where he lost to Vijay Singh in a play-off for the Malaysian Open), the Middle East (where he finished tied-second with Tiger Woods behind Thomas Bjorn in Dubai) and the US. He played three tournaments in there - tied-33rd at the Players, tied-27th at the Masters and tied-59th at the Worldcom - but the proposal to visit Torrance this weekend would indicate that he is keen to sharpen some elements of the remedial work he has carried out on his swing in recent months.

Another player who has decided to miss the Spanish Open is Paul McGinley, who had a top-10 finish in the Moroccan Open. Still, having led after the first round, he must consider it an opportunity missed on two fronts: one, in terms in possibly claiming his third tour win, and, secondly, in terms of advancing his Ryder Cup prospects.

McGinley, who plans to return to action in next week's Portuguese Open, is in 13th place in the European Ryder Cup standings but has been overtaken in recent weeks by Miguel Angel Jimenez and Bernhard Langer, while Ian Poulter, last year's rookie of the year on the European Tour, improved his position to sixth by virtue of his victory in Morocco.

Poulter is very much the surprise packet in the evolving race for a Ryder Cup place. "Obviously the Ryder Cup is something that I'm looking at, but I am going to have to play awfully well to get into the side. You have to accumulate a lot of points and play well in the big tournaments in the summer," Poulter said.

Meanwhile, Richie Coughlan, who has been hampered by the return of the chest injury that marred his debut year on the US Tour in 1998, intends to return to action in this week's Shell Houston Open. Coughlan was forced to withdraw after the first round in Atlanta three weeks ago (the second time this season he has been forced out of a tournament by the muscle injury) but is deemed to fit to play this week.

He is not the only Irishman in the field. Graeme McDowell, a student at the University of Alabama, is also playing thanks to an invitation he received for winning last year's South of Ireland amateur championship at Lahinch, which has the same sponsor.

EUROPEAN ORDER OF MERIT - Irish places: 5th, P Harrington €355,993; 33rd, D Smyth €107,484; 34th, P McGinley €105,275; 57th, D Clarke €65,348; 113th, E Darcy €31,543; 118th, D Higgins €29,373; 160, P Walton €15,640.