Golf:British Open champion Darren Clarke has admitted that he is finding it difficult to motivate himself after his remarkable win at Royal St George's in July. The 43-year-old achieved his dream at the 20th attempt this summer.

Since lifting the Claret Jug, Clarke has played in four European Tour events, missing the cut twice and finishing 68th and 35th in the Bridgestone Invitational and European Masters — the opening qualifying event for next year’s Ryder Cup — respectively.

And he admits it has been difficult to reset his goals after fulfilling a lifelong dream at Royal St George’s, while everyone else has been having difficulty simply keeping hold of the Claret Jug.

“I’ve not managed to drop it yet myself, but a few other people have,” Clarke said ahead of the Dunhill Links Championship. “It can bend quite easily, believe it or not.

“I won’t tell you where it was, but it’s happened a few times and it’s not my fault. Other people have had a bit of fun with it before I got my hands on it, so I’m not the only one I’m sure. I did give it a bit of a twist to straighten it out a little bit.”

As for his goals, he added: “I’ve managed to win the tournament I’ve wanted to win from when I started playing the game of golf, the biggest and best tournament in the world. My difficulty since has been assessing and fixing some goals.

“I’ve done what I’ve always wanted to do, got to the top of the mountain. What else is there to do? Yes, they (major championships) are all very important, but to me The Open is the oldest, the biggest, the best there is.

“If you ask anyone who achieves their lifetime goal how do you keep going and going, I have no idea. I’ve won World Golf Championship events, I’ve won The Open, I’ve won tournaments all around the world. At some stage in the future I might be asked to be Ryder Cup captain. What more could I do?”

Tee-off times(Irish and GB unless stated)

St Andrews

Starting at hole 1

0900Brett Rumford (Aus), Mathias Gronberg (Swe)
0911David Drysdale, Steven O'Hara
0922Scott Jamieson, Ross McGowan
0933Marcel Siem (Ger), Gary Orr
0944Stephen Gallacher, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)
0955Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra)
1006Robert Rock, Christian Cevaer (Fra)
1017Tano Goya (Arg), Michael Hoey
1028Johnson Wagner (USA), Patrick Reed (USA)
1039Michael Campbell (Nzl), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)
1050Paul Lawrie, Joost Luiten (Ned)
1101Henrik Stenson (Swe), Alan McLean
1112Todd Hamilton (USA), Richard McEvoy
1123Oliver Fisher, Scott Strange (Aus)

Starting at hole 10

0900Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par)
0911Alvaro Velasco (Spa), James Kingston (Rsa)
0922Bradley Dredge, Richie Ramsay
0933Marcus Both (Aus), Seve Benson
0944Robert Dinwiddie, Daniel Gaunt (Aus)
0955Soren Kjeldsen (Den), David Dixon
1006Michael Jonzon (Swe), Tommy Fleetwood
1017Jbe Kruger (Rsa), Romain Wattel (Fra)
1028Richard Bland, Markus Brier (Aut)
1039Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Neil Schietekat (Rsa)
1050Steve Webster, Keith Horne (Rsa)
1101 Shane Lowry,Richard Finch
1112Kieran Pratt (Aus), Phillip Price
1123 Peter Lawrie,David Bransdon (Aus)

Carnoustie Course

Starting at hole 1

0900Peter O'Malley (Aus), John Daly (USA)
0911 Gareth Maybin,Bronson La Cassie (Aus)
0922Rhys Davies, Marcus Fraser (Aus)
0933Andy Sullivan, Maarten Lafeber (Ned)
0944Ross Fisher, Martin Wiegele (Aut)
0955 Paul McGinley,David Howell
1006Nick Dougherty, Sandy Lyle
1017Danny Willett, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)
1028Mark Foster, George Murray
1039Andre Stolz (Aus), Peter Whiteford
1050Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Barry Lane
1101Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Jamie Donaldson
1112Johan Edfors (Swe), David Horsey
1123Rohan Blizard (Aus), Steven Jones (Aus)

Starting at hole 10

0900Jack Senior, Josh Cunliffe (Rsa)
0911Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Rikard Karlberg (Swe)
0922Oscar Floren (Swe), Peter Karmis (Rsa)
0933Benjamin Hebert (Fra), Matt Haines
0944John Parry, Jason Knutzon (USA)
0955David Lynn, Anthony Kang (USA)
1006Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Robert Coles
1017Oliver Wilson, Gary Boyd
1028Aaron Townsend (Aus), Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha)
1039Andrew Dodt (Aus), Felipe Aguilar (Chi)
1050David McKenzie (Aus), Mark Tullo (Chi)
1101Steven Brown (Gbr), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel)
1112Marc Warren, Michiel Bothma (Rsa)
1123Christian Nilsson (Swe), Alex Haindl (Rsa)

Kingsbarns

Starting at hole 1

0900Kenneth Ferrie, Matthew Zions (Aus)
0911Niclas Fasth (Swe), Gareth Paddison (Nzl)
0922Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa)
0933 Damien McGrane,Anthony Wall
0944Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa), Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa)
0955Pablo Martin (Spa), Matthew Griffin (Aus)
1006 Paul Cutler,Mark Brown (Nzl)
1017Floris De Vries (Ned), Jeppe Huldahl (Den)
1028James Morrison, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita)
1039Gregory Havret (Fra), Simon Khan
1050Graeme Storm, Rafael Echenique (Arg)
1101Victor Dubuisson (Fra), Alexander Noren (Swe)
1112Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Chris Wood
1123Scott Hend (Aus), Stephen Dodd

Starting at hole 10

0900Simon Dyson, Graeme McDowell
0911Soren Hansen (Den), Matteo Manassero (Ita)
0922Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)
0933Tom Lewis, Anthony Michael (Rsa)
0944Colin Montgomerie, Robert Karlsson (Swe)
0955Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Peter Hanson (Swe)
1006Lee Westwood, Thomas Bjorn (Den)
1017Thomas Levet (Fra), J J Henry (USA)
1028Martin Kaymer (Ger), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa)
1039 Padraig Harrington,James Byrne
1050Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Luke Donald
1101Ernie Els (Rsa), George Coetzee (Rsa)
1112Dustin Johnson (USA), Rory McIlroy
1123 Darren Clarke,Retief Goosen (Rsa)