K Club Talk

"I went so early, about 7.00 a.m., she never noticed," - Sweden's Mathias Gronberg of his early morning departures to play golf while on holidays in the United States with his fiancee, Tara, prior to arriving for the European Open.

"The greens are about eight out of 10 at the moment, in an- other two years they will be 10 out of 10 and this will be a world class course," - Paul McGinley, touring professional at The K Club.

"My dad said it's the second best place to play," - American Craig Hainline on his reasons for playing on the European Tour.

"My perspective has changed. I've got a beautiful wife and a beautiful son at home now who are much more important than my golf . . . it takes a lot of pressure off my golf and allows me to accept whatever happens as opposed to getting annoyed with my bad shots," - Darren Clarke's assessment of fatherhood.

"This is the first time I've played the course sober," - Sam Torrance, recalling his previous excursions in the week after Europe's Ryder Cup win in Oak Hill in 1995 and last year "when I was on the Guinness a second time."

"The biggest negative is that you live in a fish tank," - Gary Nicklaus on being a Nicklaus.

"My confidence is pretty fragile . . . this is something that's been going wrong for two years and it just snowballed on a good course with a bit of wind," - Europe's number one for the past five years, Colin Montgomerie, after missing the cut.

"I'm looking forward to a flight in an F-16 out of the base in Norfolk, Virginia," - Payne Stewart turning his thoughts to non-golfing adventure.

"I woke up with a stiff neck, couldn't even hit a sand wedge on the range and went to the physio unit where they put on a heat pack, gave it a rub and put on tiger balm," - Gronberg on how he got through the second round.

"I'd hate this to be my last tournament in Ireland," - Stewart, after missing the cut.

"The thought of £208,000 isn't too bad . . . but there are still 18 holes to go and they can be very punishing," - Gronberg on carrying a three-shot lead into the final round.

"They even cheered my bogeys," - Clarke, on the support he received from the Irish galleries.

"All week I've been thinking about Omagh. I was asking Billy Foster [caddie] every minute when it was 10 past three and for two holes after that I was thinking about it until I went back thinking about the job," - Clarke on Saturday's minute of silence for victims of the bombing.

"I won't give up hope," - Bernhard Langer on starting the final round seven shots adrift of Gronberg. He closed off with a 75.

"There are lots of problems on this course. It seems that everyone saw them, except me," - Gronberg, after winning the championship by 10 shots.

"I hate being called a journeyman," - Phillip Price, who won £108,562 (his biggest ever cheque) for finishing tied-second.

"I was playing for second place. Mathias had the tournament sown up: 13-under-par in these conditions around this course is just fantastic," - Clarke, who eventually finished in fourth place.