Darren Clarke profile: Rugby’s loss has been golf’s gain

He could have been a rugby player, you know. But instead of scrimmaging or plucking a lineout ball out of the air, it was golf which transfixed Darren Clarke. As an 11-year-old, he progressed from caddying for his father, Godfrey, to playing, being dropped at Dungannon Golf Club with pocket money, a packed lunch and the insatiable urge to play 36 or more holes a day.

And it wasn’t long before he set the tongues wagging around the golf courses of Ireland as his talent – and highlighted hair – marked him out from the crowd.

Clarke always seemed to be a man in a hurry. As an amateur, he excelled – beating Pádraig Harrington in the Irish Close final of 1990 – but rather than hang around to play Walker Cup at Portmarnock in 1991, Clarke took the giant leap into professional golf where he joined Chubby Chandler’s fledgling ISM stable. It’s a player-manager association that remains as strong, or even stronger, to this very day.

In a professional career marked by huge highlights – finally getting his hands on a Major title, the claret jug as British Open champion in 2011, and two WGC titles – as well as personal tragedy, the loss of his first wife Heather to cancer in 2006, Clarke’s image has been that of a man of the people: for the most part, he was the one chomping on a cigar or celebrating with a pint; and it was only in more recent years that his slimmer, more clean-cut image evolved.

Clarke's first win as a professional came in the 1993 Alfred Dunhill Open in Belgium, the first of 22 worldwide as a professional and only the precursor to some great days on famous courses with the club in hand. In 2000, when Tiger Woods was at the height of his powers, Clarke out-duelled the world number one in the final of the WGC-Accenture Matchplay and, in 2003, collected a second WGC title, the Bridgestone Invitational at Akron.

Personal tragedy, though, would strike in 2006 when his wife, Heather, died after a long battle with breast cancer. Her death took place just weeks before the 2006 Ryder Cup at The K Club where Clarke, a 'wild card' pick by captain Ian Woosnam, not only played but emerged with an unbeaten record (winning all three matches). His tear-soaked face after closing out his singles win on the 16th green became one of the iconic sporting images of that year.

Although the Ryder Cup was a hugely significant part of Clarke’s career – he made his debut at Valderrama in 1997 and featured five times in all, four of them on a winning team – that wild card pick at The K Club proved to be last time to play.

Some five years later, though, Clarke – out of the blue – scaled the heights of his career as his long-overdue Major triumph came in the 2011 British Open at Royal St George’s in Sandwich.

For a man who had always seemed in a rush to succeed, Clarke’s only Major success came towards the backend of an honour-laden career that accumulated in excess of €20 million in prizemoney on the PGA European Tour. The claret jug,was more precious than anything and – coming after his fellow Irish golfers Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy had claimed Major victories – finally brought fulfilment.

That British Open triumph marked the high point of Clarke’s playing career, but he has always had an eye on obtaining the Ryder Cup captaincy. He first threw his hat into the ring two years ago, in somewhat controversial fashion having previously supported Paul McGinley’s candidacy for the 2014 match. But that is all water under the bridge now and Clarke, who has served as a vice-captain at Medinah in 2012, now gets the chance to put his own mark on the European captaincy.