Fitter, lighter higher - Clarke sets new goals

One day last week a somewhat heavier version of the Darren Clarke, who earned the number two spot on the PGA European Tour moneylist last season, spent a full day in the sun at the San Roque club in the south of Spain. He was in the company of Jose Maria Olazabal and a film crew who captured images of the duo for use in a television commercial for the new MacGregor driver.

Clarke's a highly sellable commodity these days and the filming was light-hearted stuff, with a serious business edge, in the prelude to a new European season which starts this week with the South African PGA in Johannesburg. Clarke won't be there as his season doesn't commence until the Malaysian Open next month. That will be the start of a globetrotting sequence that takes in the Dubai Classic and then five tournaments in seven weeks in the United States, starting with the WGC matchplay championship in Carlsbad, California and finishing with the Masters at Augusta National.

Before then, "Big D" aims to lose the stone in weight he has put on since quitting smoking in November which has seen him tip the scales at over 17 stone. Much work in the gym beckons, as well as on the range.

He plops his frame into a cushioned chair in the snooker room in the San Roque clubhouse and outlines his strategy, the gameplan to move onto an even higher level. "I plan to do whatever I have to do to get better," he says. "There were times last year when I was tired coming down the stretch and there are times one shot at the wrong time can mean an awful lot. I want to be fitter and to make fewer mistakes."

Clarke's quest is to improve, and the standards set in 1998 make it a hard act to follow. The statistics don't lie. He improved his prizemoney, his stroke average, his world ranking and his European placing last year and won two tournaments - the Benson and Hedges International and the Volvo Masters. Clarke's intentions for the new season are to set higher goals. "If you look at what Lee Westwood achieved last year (in moving up the world rankings), then a place in the top 10 is a very realistic goal for me. I want to win another couple of tournaments and I intend to pick and choose the more beneficial ones, tournaments where the best players are," he says.

It's a big year. The arrival of the World Golf Championship (WGC) with three tournaments, to add to the majors and, of course, the Ryder Cup, means that all the big guns, including Clarke, will have to map out their schedules and rise to the occasion accordingly.

"I suppose the British Open is number one for me - it is great to be back on Carnoustie, a course of tremendous stature. And Augusta is possibly number two. It is a course that suits me, an awesome place that you just can't wait to get out on. I remember two years ago Lee Westwood and Chubby Chandler sent me back a postcard and a menu and that made me realise that I should be there too. I expect to play well at Augusta. I think 66 to 1 which the bookies are offering me is a very good price for a golf course that suits me. "Of the other two majors, the US Open and the US PGA, they're normally played on courses where I'm not going to excel. However, if I put myself into position, I believe I can win anywhere."

So, Clarke's confidence is high as he prepares to resume competitive fare. After an idle, smoke-free winter - "I played twice, nine holes on holidays in Barbados and 18 at Sunningdale" - he paid a flying visit to the MacGregor training week in San Roque last week where he offered young players advise. "Practise, practise, practise and when you think you've had a hard day's practice, practise another couple of hours," he advocates. Clarke gets back into the swing with tournaments in Malyasia next month, followed by Dubai. Then he flies to the Untied States for the Andersen Consulting matchplay in Carlsbad, before taking two weeks off. He then plays in four straight tournaments - the Bay Hill Invitational, the Players' Championship, the BellSouth Classic and finally the US Masters.

And the aim is to improve . . . . and improve. "If I was to put my golf game on a ladder, I'd say I was about half-way up and that I have a lot more rungs to go," insists Clarke.

However, he claims that the rivalry between himself, Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood on last year's circuit was a big help to his golfing education. "About two-thirds of the way through the season a gap developed. And, yet, even with the rivalry, we remained friends. Golf is pretty unique in that way. I remember getting a call from Monty at Crans (Swiss venue of the European Masters) in 1996 and he talked to me for about an hour on how I should raise my game. And, then, Lee gave me a putting lesson at Montecastillo before I won the Volvo Masters. Compared to America, I think we're a close-knit community."

Clarke's year ahead will present many challenges, but the Ryder Cup, inevitably, looms large. He expects to have a bigger role to play this time round, compared to Valderrama two years ago. "It was disappointing in that I was hoping to play more than I did last time. But we were there as a team and won as a team. Seve (Ballesteros) is Seve, he did it his way and we won. So what he did was right. But I think Jesse (Mark James) will be a great captain and all the guys have a huge amount of respect for him."

Clarke expects to have an important role to play when Europe defend the trophy in Brookline, Massachusetts in September. "I was a rookie last time. I won't be this time," he says. And, even with all the major individual challenges facing him this season, Clarke has no doubt which would be the most pressured situation. "Brookline," he says, "purely because it is for the team".

The race to be part of James's team in Boston starts in South Africa this week when the European Tour's new season gets under way with the South African PGA Championship.

Just three Irishmen - Paul McGinley, Eamonn Darcy and John McHenry - are in the field, but Nick Faldo's inclusion is an indication of his determination to play his way into the team for the Ryder Cup rather than rely on a "wild card" vote.

Another interesting inclusion is Justin Rose, who finished fourth in the British Open at Royal Birkdale last year but failed to make a cut in his seven subsequent tournament appearances as a professional. Rose failed to win a card at the tour's qualifying school (although he will be able to play on the Challenge Tour), but he had received a sponsor's invitation to play in South Africa.

Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington has decided not to start his European Tour campaign until the Heineken Classic at the Vines Resort in Perth at the end of the month. The Dubliner spent last week practising in Spain and, this week, has teamed up with Bob Torrance for a couple of days coaching at Largs in Scotland.