Clarke cautious over his plans for the new season

Darren Clarke says he can only make tentative golfing plans while his wife, Heather, continues her battle with cancer. World number 18 Clarke is due to launch his season this month with back-to-back appearances at the Qatar Masters and the Dubai Desert Classic.

The Northern Irishman knows, however, he may have to revise his schedule at any time.

"Heather's condition is day-by-day. She is undergoing intensive chemotherapy," Clarke said at the launch of the British Masters, at the Belfry, yesterday.

"At the moment she's doing okay, but I don't want to get ahead of myself and make plans. I'm just looking forward to playing the next five or six weeks while she's doing well.

"I want to try to get myself swinging the club the way I want to in the early part of the season, but I don't want to get my hopes built too far up and then have to pull out the week before events."

Clarke believes the prospects for European golf are bright with the Ryder Cup on the horizon this year.

"We are looking good," said Clarke. "We have got Luke Donald coming on, and it was good to see Paul Casey back in the winners' enclosure again at the end of last year. Nick Dougherty had a great year last year and David Howell is improving great.

"In terms of the Ryder Cup, we've also got Henrik Stenson playing fantastic week in, week out. We've got a lot of really good young players on the European Tour."

Clarke also spoke highly of his neighbour and great friend Paul McGinley. "Paul played very well last year. His win at the Volvo Masters was long overdue.

"He is feeling confident and is looking forward to getting started again this season."

It was at the Sutton Coldfield course four years ago that McGinley holed the winning putt for Europe in the Ryder Cup. On coming back for the 60th staging of the British Masters, the 39-year-old Dubliner yesterday said his main objective was to make sure his place in September's Ryder Cup side was secure by then.

"My main focus is to cement my cup spot. I'm 90 per cent there. But the job's not done, and it's important to get that polished off and put away.

"Both times I've made the team I've had to do it at the end. Last time I played 10 events in a row to make it, so it would be nice to avoid that."

Having decided not to undergo the knee surgery he thought he might need during the winter, McGinley returned to action in Bangkok last week and won all his three games as Europe beat Asia in the Royal Trophy.

"I'm really glad I played - it worked out really well," he added. "It was great to play with Nick (Faldo) and Woosie (Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam) and with Seve (Ballesteros) as captain.

"I learnt a lot - Seve was brilliant, in great form all week. You just have to learn from these guys, people who have been through it."

The Valderrama triumph has inevitably raised McGinley's expectations for the coming months, and that includes a return to Augusta for the Masters in April.

He finished 18th on his debut in 2002, missing out on an automatic invitation for the following year by a single stroke, and has not been back since.

Now he heads there believing if he plays like he did at the Volvo Masters he must have a chance of ending Europe's six-year wait for a major winner.

"It was very important for me to win. There's a massive difference between finishing second and first, and to do it in such a big field against a quality field was something my career needed," he said. "I had proved I was good enough to play at that level, but I needed to win. Of course, expectations are higher now. I've made a lot of progress; my career is at a high, and that gives me a higher sense of belief."

What worries McGinley about the Masters is the extra length on the course since his last visit.

He was outspoken last year about the changes made to St Andrews for the British Open and to other courses, but added: "If I start bitching and moaning it's going to have a negative effect, so I'm turning a blind eye to it.

"In general, though, I'm an old traditionalist, dismayed at the way the game is going - and something needs to be done about it.

"It's a no-brainer just to put in new tees. I wish people would box more cleverly, shrink fairways by a few yards and look at course set-up."

McGinley was speaking in the room used by then captain Sam Torrance for team meetings at the 2002 Ryder Cup. "This brings back lots of memories in itself. I learnt a lot of things about life in this room, and there was a lot said that had a profound effect on me."

Quinn Direct have become sponsors of the event for the next three years, with prize money this May of £1.8 million.