Clarke delays season start

Darren Clarke has decided to delay his start to the season until the end of January when he will compete in the Dimension Data Pro-Am in Sun City, a South African Tour event which, unlike those of the previous two weeks, is not one co-sanctioned by the European Tour.

In fact, Clarke won't officially kick-start his European Tour campaign until the WGCAndersen Consulting Matchplay Championship in Carlsbad, California, on February 24th-27th before flying on to Dubai for the following week's Desert Classic.

Although Paul McGinley is one of three Irishmen competing in the Alfred Dunhill SA Championship (which starts at the Houghton club in Johannesburg on Thursday), Clarke has opted for a later start to his playing season. After playing in Sun City, Clarke will take a two weeks break before competing in the Nissan Open in Los Angeles as a warm-up tournament in the week preceding the matchplay championship.

Incidentally, Clarke has yet to finalise his plans in the build-up to the US Masters. Stablemate Lee Westwood has decided to play in the Bay Hill Invitational and the Players' Championship at Sawgrass in advance of Augusta, but Clarke is, as yet, undecided about his plans.

McGinley, in contrast, has decided to seek a flying start to the season. The Dubliner opens his campaign with this week's South African Championship and will also play in next week's South African Open, two tournaments which are co-sanctioned by the European Tour. McGinley will then continue his globetrotting by playing in the Heineken Classic in Perth, where Padraig Harrington will open his campaign. Only three Irishmen are involved in the first tournament of the year, and the second of the season (the Johnnie Walker Classic in Taiwan last November was actually the first counting event): McGinley will be joined by rookie Gary Murphy, who won his card at tour school, and James Loughnane, who was a regular on the South African tour last season.