Clarke takes major step on career path

Darren Clarke took a major step towards the next stage of his professional career, by sharing eighth place behind Mark O'Meara in the US Masters at Augusta National last Sunday. Effectively, it gave the 31-year-old more than a third of the money he will need to gain exemption into the US Tour next season.

It is estimated that the critical, survival figure at the end of this season will be around $240,000. As a result of last weekend's exploits, Clarke now has $89,000 in the kitty and he has several more chances of getting the remainder.

"My objective is to play both the European and US Tours next season - probably 16 tournaments in America," he said yesterday. "I feel I need to test myself properly over here, if I'm to reach my full potential."

He went on: "I played poorly in seven previous America tournaments, including three US Opens. But my performance in the Masters proved to me that all I was lacking was experience. I know I can handle the challenge." Apart from getting the highest finish by an Irishman at Augusta, he also produced the best Irish performance in a US "major" since David Feherty was tied seventh behind John Daly in the 1991 USPGA Championship at Crooked Stick.

Clarke's next assignment will be the $1.9 million MCI Classic which starts on Thursday on the Harbour Town Links at Hilton Head, South Carolina. Among the fellow Europeans in the field are former winner Nick Faldo, who missed the cut at Augusta and Colin Montgomerie, who shared eighth place with Clarke, Tiger Woods and Justin Leonard.

Since making his American debut in the 1994 US Open at Oakmont, Clarke has made only infrequent appearances on this side of the Atlantic. This year, however, he will have three spring tournaments under his belt - the Players Championship, the Masters and the MCI Classic - before returning here for the Buick Classic at Westchester, the week before playing in the US Open at The Olympic Club on June 18th to 21st.

His British Open earnings will also count for the US money list and he will then be back in America for the USPGA Championship at Sahalee CC on August 13th to 16th and probably the Sprint International the following week.

Meanwhile, it seems that not much will change around the £3 million Florida home of O'Meara as a result of Sunday's triumph. "I think what's important for Mark is raising a family," said Woods, his near neighbour at the exclusive Isleworth resort in Orlando. "His family is more important to him than golf. He treats golf simply as a vehicle to support his family."

O'Meara's wife, Alicia, endorsed that view. "Nothing's going to change," she said in the wake of her husband's breakthrough. "Mark is still going to be Mark and we're all going to go on about our lives."

Indeed Alicia's most pressing problem after her husband's victory was attempting to locate the keys of their courtesy car which had been mislaid in the grass close-by the giant oak outside the Augusta clubhouse. While scrambling in the twilight, she faced a desperate rush to get back to their rented house and freshen up, so as to be back at the club for the newly-crowned champion's dinner.

After Woods had smashed the Masters' aggregate record on the way to an unprecedented 12stroke victory last year, there was much talk about the huge advantage the big-hitters had at Augusta. But a crucial element of the young man's performance was that he survived 72 holes without three-putting. And O'Meara proved yet again, the priceless value of a productive blade.

The fact is that he had the fewest putts of anybody in the field - 105 for the 72 holes, or an average of 26.2 putts per round. The most important ones were an eight-footer for birdie at the 71st and a 20-footer for another birdie at the last.

Those efforts meant that he became only the third player, joining Art Wall from 1959 and Arnold Palmer from 1960, to birdie the final two holes on the way to victory. Palmer, Gary Player (1978), Sandy Lyle (1988) and now O'Meara, are the only players to birdie the last hole of the Masters and win by a shot.

But for the 1979 US amateur champion, it was a long time coming. He had competed in 56 professional major championships, without success, including 14 Masters. Small wonder he was prompted to remark: "I hope all you media guys will go a little lighter on me now."

As a fascinating postscript, the rating for Saturday's telecast of the Masters was down almost 20 per cent on last year. Analysts have interpreted this as indicating that viewers would prefer Woods to be "a front-runner rather than a charger".

Yet the so-called Phenom, still made a significant contribution to the destination of the trophy. As O'Meara admitted, the spectacular exploits of Woods last season, prompted all the old hands to work harder on their game in an effort at remaining competitive. And for this particular 41-yearold, the pay-off was the stuff of dreams.