Given the events of the weekend at Harbour Town where his current slump reached new depths, Nick Faldo could hardly be rated with Henry Kissinger as a foreign policy adviser. But Darren Clarke is prepared to trust the Englishman's judgement, regarding a possible future on the US Tour.

"Nick asked me what my plans were and we discussed the matter at length," said Clarke before leaving here yesterday with his pregnant wife Heather, for their new home in Sunningdale. "He took the view that I should make a stronger commitment to the American scene."

Clarke went on: "It's quite flattering in a way. He knows what it takes and he obviously feels I have the game to do well over here. After the way I played in the Masters, I'm convinced he's right. I know I have the game for this tour.

"Heather and I have already talked this out and she's 100 per cent behind me. Obviously we have considered the implications of the baby, which is due in August. But before any of that, I must first give myself the option by earning sufficient money to get a US Tour card. That has to be my prime target."

At this stage, he has quite a way to go. Prize money of $5,563 from the MCI Classic brings his US earnings this year to $95,163 from three events for 94th place in the current money list. He will need probably another $140,000, to secure his player's card at the end of the season.

Clarke will take this week off before returning to the European Tour in the Italian Open from April 30th to May 3rd. Then he takes another break before the Henson and Hedges International at The Oxfordshire. After that, he has the Volvo PGA Championship and both of these are effectively home events for him, since his move to England.

Neither Richard Coughlan nor Keith Nolan managed to get into the limited field for Harbour Town. Coughlan missed the cut in the Nike Upstate Classic last weekend and both Irish rookies will be in action this week in the Greater Greensboro Open at Forest Oaks CC in North Carolina, where Frank Nobilo defends the title.

Faldo is taking an extended break after plumbing the depths at Harbour Town, where he finished last after a final round of 83. His next tournament will be the Colonial in Forth Worth on May 21st to 24th.

Meanwhile, events over the weekend proved that an idyllic holiday setting is not immune to a growing problem of rowdy crowd behaviour at American tournaments. Sadly, one of the main targets was the eventual winner, Davis Love, though there were other victims.

It served to prove that even the presence of hundreds of well-meaning volunteer officials - most of whom were simply a nuisance to the genuine golf fan - could do nothing to arrest the malaise. Other problems were caused largely by ignorance.

For instance, at one of the par threes, Payne Stewart felt obliged to turn towards a spectator and demand: "Take it." The woman on the ropes, sporting an expensive camera with a long lens, hesitated. "Take it," Stewart insisted.

So she took the photograph. "Now," the player told her, "put the camera away."

Then there was the spectator who seemed displeased with Love's strategy of laying up at the dangerous, long 15th. Complaining that the fan had called him a "wuss", Love later asked: "I'm leading the tournament and he's standing outside the ropes: who understands better how to play the hole?"

Now, the word "wuss" is new to me, but judging from the player's reaction in marching over to the ropes to confront the fan, it can't be very complimentary. "Who wants to own up?" demanded Love. "Say it to my face, not to my back." Predictably, there were no takers.

It will be recalled that two years ago at this tournament, after Greg Norman had experienced his horrendous Masters collapse, he was accosted by a drunk on the 18th tee. Tony Navarro, the Shark's caddie, went to tackle the heckler before the man was hauled away by a security officer.

"This stuff never happened to Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus," said Love. "People see us as celebrities now and they want to take a picture. It's the price we pay for making more money, I guess. But they should still realise that it's a gentlemen's game." Quite.

Through his fourth Hilton Head triumph on Sunday, Love has joined an elite group of players with multiple wins at the same venue. Clearly, the most notable of these is Jack Nicklaus with six wins in the US Masters at Augusta National.

Then there were the five victories by Ben Hogan at Colonial. Sam Snead actually had eight wins in the Greater Greensboro Open, but, for his inaugural victory in 1938, two courses, Starmount Forest and Sedgefield Forest, were used. Then the courses were alternated, with the result that four other Snead wins were at Sedgefield (1946, 1950, 1955, 1965) while the remaining three were at Starmount (1949, 1956, 1960).

Incidentally, Snead was aged 52 years, 10 months and eight days on the occasion of that last Greensboro win, which was the record Nicklaus was attempting to break at Augusta earlier this month.