Clarke hopes to revisit past glory

TOUR SCENE NEWS ROUND-UP:IRELAND'S MOST recent Challenge Tour winner, Michael McGeady (above), will lead a 21 strong local contingent in the Challenge of Ireland tournament at Glasson which begins on Thursday. McGeady enjoyed his maiden Challenge Tour victory at the SWALEC Wales Challenge to further embellish what has been a remarkable season for Irish golfers.

This week the tour moves to beautiful Glasson, the Christy O'Connor Jnr designed parkland layout hosting the tournament for a second successive season. The Irish challenge includes local boy Colm Moriarty, Gareth Maybin, Michael Hoey and McGeady. Maybin is currently 12th in the Challenge Tour standings - the top 20 at season's end get European Tour cards for next season - with Hoey 21st and McGeady 34th.

IRELAND'S DARREN Clarke will be hoping to revisit a past success in the hope of bolstering increasingly tenuous chances of making the European team for this September's Ryder Cup against the USA at Valhalla Golf Club.

This week the Ulsterman, winner of the Asian Open in April, tees up in the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, five years after he won a previous incarnation of the tournament, the WGC NEC Invitational over the same course.

It's interesting to note his presence this week is not attributable to a previous victory in the tournament but rather the fact that he played in the 2006 Ryder Cup. Clarke was one of European captain Ian Woosnam's two wild-card choices.

The Dungannon-born golfer is one of four Irishmen in Ohio, alongside British Open champion and world number three, Pádraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Paul McGinley. The latter also owes his presence at Firestone to being a member of the 2006 Ryder Cup team.

Given the fact that the 82-strong field don't have to worry about making the cut - there is none - and with a prize fund of €5 million it is a potentially lucrative week.

There are just five counting tournaments remaining before 10 places on the 2008 European team will be decided from the qualification process, with captain Nick Faldo then left to announce his two wild cards.

Clarke is eligible to play all five, having secured an invite to the US PGA Championship at Oakland Hills in Detroit next week.

McGinley, who has manufactured tremendous late surges in the past to make Ryder Cup teams, is likely to start four events - he missed the US PGA - beginning at Akron. Following the season's fourth major, the US PGA Championship in Detroit, the European Tour heads for Stockholm and the SAS Masters, then takes in the KLM Open in the Netherlands before the final counting event, the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles. On Sunday, August 31st, Faldo will be in a position to confirm his European team.

The problem facing McGinley and Clarke in relation to the Ryder Cup conundrum is there are a number of high-profile players who may yet be in need of a wild card, including British Open runner-up Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Luke Donald and Colin Montgomerie.

Donald is certainly the most vulnerable as it has been confirmed he will miss the WGC event and the US PGA Championship with the wrist injury that has kept him sidelined since withdrawing from the US Open during the final round on July 15th.

He released a statement on July 11th suggesting he would have "at least the next three to four weeks off". Donald is in 11th place on Europe's world points list - McGinley is 30th, Clarke 33rd - but only five players are selected off that and he is appreciably outside the mix, as are the Irish duo, when it comes to Order of Merit earnings.

Donald won't take much succour from Faldo's observation that "to pick a man who is injured would be a major story". The 30- year-old has been a member of the last two victorious European teams, losing only once in seven matches and winning all his four games in partnership with Sergio Garcia.

There are a total of 25 Europeans competing at Akron, but as well as missing Donald the contingent is also minus Jose Maria Olazabal, who is taking another break from the game as he fights fatigue brought on, it is thought, by the medicine prescribed for his rheumatism.

Harrington returns to the competitive arena for the first time since successfully defending his British Open title. He has been back practising since last Tuesday and while he doesn't expect to be attuned mentally and physically to the optimum level this week, he expects to be in decent shape for the season's final major.

The US PGA Championship is a priority alongside the FedEx Cup and the Ryder Cup. In terms of the latter event, he is happy to be on the inside looking out in terms of the qualification process. He doesn't expect his role within the European team to change appreciably despite winning a second major.

He admitted: "I've been on average probably the leading European player for half a dozen years now in terms of results, world rankings. I haven't ever felt like the guy who needed to stand at the front and lead. I'm quite happy that I can perform without that.

"Colin (Montgomerie) plays much better golf by being out number one and being the non-playing captain. If you put Colin out down the order he'd be deflated and struggle. I've always had the opinions, and I'm always ready to talk to anyone and help anyone in the team.

"I like to think that given time, maybe not this time but soon, I'm going to have to step up to that plate and be that man (who leads the team). I don't see it changing much this time. I might be asked to lead more on the golf course, but certainly Monty and (Miguel Angel) Jimenez; a lot of guys look up to (them)."