Clarke On Open Eve: "I still can’t f***ing putt!"

Brian Keogh relays a fun early-Open Championship week story courtesy of instructor Pete Cowen from Royal St. George's before Darren Clarke went on to win.

“Darren walked up to me Tuesday morning at the Open, down the range near the Mizuno truck.

“And I said: ‘Alright, Darren?’

‘No, I’m f***ing not. I cant f***ing hit it. I’m f***ing useless. I’ve got no pressure on it, no flight, the f***ing spin is out of control, I’m hitting about that far behind it, I’m narrow on the downswing and I can’t f***ing putt.’

‘Oh. Okay. What are we going to do about that?’

‘We’d better f***ing sort it, f***ing right out.’

“So two hours later he’s hitting it great and turns around and says to me: ‘I still can’t f***ing putt!’

“I wish I’d had that tape recorder so I could play it back to him on the Sunday night [after winning] and say, ‘Who’s this guy?’”

Clarke Tells Critics To Get A Life; Who Knew He Had Critics?

I haven't seen anything suggesting that Darren Clarke's post-Open Championship celebrations were anything but expected, yet the Northern Irishman was a wee bit cranky on the eve of the Irish Open, sending out a message to his critics...whoever they may be.

James Corrigan previews the Irish Open and reports:

"I drink a little bit too much, smoke a little bit too much and enjoy myself a little bit too much at times," declared Clarke yesterday. "It's the way I relax and I don't intend to change that in any way shape or form."

Thank goodness for that; or so will say all those who admired this Everyman's waddle to destiny at Royal St George's two weekends ago, lifting the Claret Jug at the 20th time of trying. Yet while Clarke's euphoric receipt of a long written-off major was toasted in Britain, on his home island the reaction to his excess has triggered a debate. Indeed, the negativity which greeted his marathon celebrations was the one thing which surprised him in the aftermath.

"There's been a little bit of chat about – 'he shouldn't have had a drink', 'he shouldn't have done this', 'he shouldn't have done that'," said Clarke. "I don't know, people need to get real. Look what happened in Norway over the weekend. I won a golf tournament and people are concerned about whether or not I had one pint too many?I mean, get a life. It's just sport."

Clarke's bemusement is understandable. "There's been phone-ins, radio shows, newspaper articles," he said, perplexity ringing out from every tone. "I think it would be very poor of me if I was to change the way that I am because of a few people's opinions. And that's not going to happen."

Clarke and Chubby In Row Over Darren's Bank Account Status

Last week the Daily Mail's Graham Otway and Jack White's quoted agent Chubby Chandler as suggesting Darren Clarke was nearly broke before he won the Open Championship and I didn't pay much attention to it because, well, it's the Daily Mail and the alcohol was flowing after the championship.

But Karl MacGinty reports on Clarke responding to his agent's comments.

Yet, when asked yesterday if he'd been cash-strapped before winning at St Georges, Clarke said bluntly: "Not particularly. No."

Clarke had not been quoted in the article and politely declined to make any further, comment, saying: "I prefer to keep my mouth shut on those sort of things."

I smell trouble!

Geezers On Rory: Adapt Or You Won't Win

Most of the Euro Tour beat writers remain reluctant to question the long term future of Rory McIlroy in the Open Championship after he wrote it off Sunday, but as Karl MacGinty Brian Creighton reports several old geezers saw Rory McIlroy's comments about the Open and believe he needs to change his attitude.  Nick Price was the toughest:

“He had better get out there and start liking those courses and figuring out a way to play them. And if he's a good enough player, he will do that.

“He may not like it as much but he will learn. I guarantee you, he will learn to play and enjoy it on links courses.”

Ian Woosnam was the most erudite. And I bet you never thought you'd see his name and that word in the same sentence!

“He's only a young kid. He's going to say the wrong thing again and again. He's probably thinking ‘What the hell have I said?'“ Woosnam commented on the US Open champion.

“But if he wants to win the Open he's going to have to adapt. Tiger has adapted, Nicklaus adapted. Palmer, they all adapted.

“He needs to adapt to it. It's not changing your game. It's changing the way you think. All you have to do is move the ball back a couple of inches in your stance and take a club or even two clubs more to play. It's called control.”

Chubby On Rory: “You guys get them when they’re disappointed when they have just finished."

Brian Keogh reports on Rory McIlroy's agent Chubby Chandler coming to the defense of his client after Rory's surprising post-round comments suggesting that Open golf was not his thing.

Chubby agrees with McIlroy's belief he should not change his game for one week a year, even though it's the most important tournament of the year. Also note the line about wind.

“I think he’s right,” Chandler said. “Why would you change what he’s got? What will happen is that he will gradually learn to play the shots that Darren learned 15 years ago.  But at 22 he has not got the experience.  And it won’t be a case of changing his game. He won’t need to do that because he can win a lot of golf tournaments with that game.

“He will get a couple of times when the wind is not up in the Open and it will be a lot easier. But he will learn. He will learn to play because I tell you what, he has learnt an awful lot in a year. Last year he had no idea. This year he was much better.”

Chubby also suggested the timing of the questions did not help. After all, the lad had a better place to be in London.

As Chandler noted: “You guys get them when they’re disappointed when they have just finished. So what comes out of their mouth, Bubba Watson style isn’t always what they are thinking. So you have always got to temper that. He is not going to go away and think I have got to practice this way and that way to win the Open. But he will get better at it.”

One And Only One Open Championship Question: What Made RSG Palatable This Time Around?

As expected, the 14th played a pivotal role in the championship (click to enlarge)The secret to a successful major, as always, lies in the setup.

For Royal St. George's, a course despised after 2003 and one that many suggested should go off the rota, earned solid (if not rave) reviews last week largely because of its setup. The architecture was essentially the same as '03, but miracle of all miracles, the rough was tame (you go Mother Nature) and the greens were managed to perfection, preventing the undulating surfaces from getting out of hand. Furthermore, on Sunday the hole locations were perfectly balanced to open the door for a low round without altering the flow of the championship.

But most of the success lies in the rough, or lack thereof, and last week should be a reminder that in wetter years, the R&A would be wise to hire a flock of sheep to keep Open roughs properly thinned out.

More than anything, I'm curious what a convincing Darren Clarke win, an exciting run by Phil Mickelson Sunday, and a few days to reflect have done to your view of Royal St. George's. Staple of the rota? Still too quirky? Somewhere in between?

You'll Never Believe Who Picked Darren Clarke...

Thanks to reader Brian for sending this link from last week's pre-tournament BBC online coverage featuring Dan Walker talking to Dancing With The Stars judge and golf fan Len Goodman about the Open Championship at Royal St George's.

"Maybe it’s time to stop having so much fun and start winning majors again."

Robert Lusetich is fascinated by a recurring theme from the American golfers who almost won the Open and asks, "Which of them is going to have the constitution in the cauldron of the back nine on Sunday afternoon to win a major?"

Phil can win them when he’s in the mood.

Otherwise, he’s happy to just have “fun,” a word he used about a dozen times Sunday to describe his final round.

“Oh, man,” he said, his eyes widening like they do. “That was some of the most fun I’ve had competitively.”

What is this, a theme park, Phil?

And about Rickie Fowler:

Fowler was two shots behind Clarke. He needed to be bold. Instead, his first putt, from off the green, came up about 12 feet short. He missed the next one, too.

But he wasn’t taking it too hard.

“All in all, it was a fun week,” he said.

And maybe that’s the point.

Maybe it’s time to stop having so much fun and start winning majors again.

In this week's Pond Scrum, John Huggan and Steve Elling were more impressed by the American performance.

Huggan: Three Americans impressed me hugely. If there was a point to be made, they made it. Phil was terrific for 63 holes, but then turned into "Old Phil" for the last nine. After showing me he really can play links golf in a wind, he reverted to type, missed the inevitable short putt, got too aggressive and, presto, didn't win. As for Johnson, get your money on now. He will win the Open at St. Andrews four years from now. I'll be shocked if he doesn't.

Elling: Dustin Johnson has been in the final group in three different majors over the past two seasons. That, alone, means something. Will he get over this setback? Why not? He always has. Not a deep thinker, per se.

Huggan: And Fowler? Like I said, loved watching him play. It looked like he was from, oh, somewhere like Northern Ireland. Whereas Rory is more suited to golf American-style. Call it irony. I like Johnson's play, even if I'm not a huge fan of his technique. That shut face worries me. But he has the perfect game for the Old Course -- see John Daly 1995.

Clarke's Stock Skyrockets: Opts Not To Drink Out Of The Claret Jug

It does get a bit tiresome to hear athletes now asked about drinking or doing God-knows-what with a coveted trophy, so in reading Karl MacGinty's excellent account of Monday's Open aftermath at Royal St. George's, how refreshing to learn Darren Clarke showed restraint.

So what had Clarke and his fellow revellers supped from the Jug ? was it the black stuff of which he is so fond or did he wash out the after-taste of ladybirds with champagne?

Actually, not one drop was allowed to sully the silver.

“There’s been nothing in it overnight at all,” he explained. “I’m a little bit of a traditionalist. I love the thought of whatever being in the trophy but I’m a bit of 2-iron as opposed to rescue-that-sort-of-guy.

“I feel a bit funny about putting stuff in the Claret Jug that shouldn’t be in there, so I’m a bit more reserved as to what I should do,” added Clarke.

Meanwhile in Lawrence Donegan's write-up of Monday's press conference with Clarke, the winner was revealed (by agent Chubby Chandler) to have considered quitting in April. Clarke was asked about  that his talks with Bob Rotella had started up last week after a long absence. The content of the talks was off limits, at least for Clarke.

"No, I won't," Clarke said when asked to explain what he and Rotella had spoken about. Fortunately, the psychologist was not so shy. "Darren had been getting more and more frustrated with his putting and that was affecting his whole game," Rotella said. "I told him, 'You are going to have to go unconscious'. I told him I didn't want him to think about technique. I just wanted him to look where he wanted the ball to go and hit it – like he did when he was 12 years old.

"I used to work with stammerers: 98% of them could talk when they were in their bathroom; it was just that little doubt in public which tied them up. He had the skills – he's a talented athlete; it was a question of freeing them up."

Derek Lawrenson's write up includes several photos from Monday and this from Chubby on where Clarke may be cashing in:

Clarke received a £2 million sponsorship bonus for claiming the Claret Jug and there will be plenty more where that came from. Asked how much this win was worth,
Chandler replied: ’It will be lots. He’s very popular in Japan, for example. Darren’s always smiling and you’re going to be a wonderful ambassador for The Open when you can speak like he did afterwards.’

Rory's Shocking Anti-Open, Anti-Links, Anti-Weather Comments Might Be Chalked Up To Love Woes

Though based on Brian Keogh's report, the lad hasn't done too poorly on the rebound with Caroline Wozniacki, which still makes me wonder: if an American had said what Rory McIlroy said about preparing for the Open, would he get a similar free pass from the UK press?

Anyway, you just want to know about this...you mongrels.

In a statement issued on Monday by the Holywood star’s management company, International Sports Management: “Rory McIlroy’s long-time relationship with Holly Sweeney came to an amicable end before the Open Championship.”

Sources close to McIlroy confirmed last night that he has formed “a close friendship” with 21-year old Danish star Wozniacki. Pictures of the pair kissing in London on Monday have been widely published on the internet.

McIlroy made two visits to Wimbledon to watch the tennis following his US Open triumph four weeks ago but is believed to have met Wozniacki at the World Heavyweight title fight between David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg on July 2.

Now regarding this outlandish statement that there is "no point in changing your game for one week a year" and the stuff about only being a sunny/warm weather player, the Guardian's Kevin Mitchell reviews the comments and took Rory to task (gently, cleverly):

But McIlroy should realise that he is not bigger than golf, certainly not bigger than the history of the game, and that, whether he likes it or not, to be regarded as a true champion he will have to deal with the different conditions the game throws up. Rafael Nadal, so strong on clay, knew when he won on the hard court at Flushing Meadows last year he could rightly claim to be the best tennis player in the world. To get runs on the turners of the Indian subcontinent as well as the concrete of the Waca is the mark of a special batsman. Golf demands similar diversity.

Dawson: We'll Take A Closer Look At Portrush (So Stop Bloody Asking!)

From Philip Reid's story, it sounds like R&A Secretary Peter Dawson is just quieting the building speculation as to prevent an all-out riot over Royal Portrush's prospects for an Open Championship rota return.

“We’ll take a closer look at Portrush,” said Dawson, adding the rider: “What it doesn’t have, I don’t know yet until we’ve had another look at it. But I have agreed to look. The usual mixture of a great course and plenty of infrastructure combined with a prospect of commercial success is what is needed. There’s no doubt about the golf course, the other two are what we have to look at.” He added: “I don’t want to start a hare running on this, other than we are going to take a look.”

Of course a Northern Irishman winning an Open or U.S. Open's should have no impact on future venue selection, as Dawson himself has said. Hopefully they are just looking at it because it's a great course and they have a few venues that are not nearly as good.

Darren Clarke sounded more like Peter Dawson than Peter Dawson when asked about it Monday:

Clarke understandably voiced his support for Portrush to host the Open but admitted there were potential drawbacks. "That is where I would like to see it. From a personal point of view, I would love to see it going to Portrush because it is every bit as good as any Open venue that is on the rota right now.

"But until the R&A have a look at it – the logistics are huge. This week we have had unbelievable crowds – we have had 180,000. Do they think they will get 180,000 through the gates in Portrush? I am sure they would but they have to look at other aspects outside of that to make sure the tournament works.

"The R&A have been doing it for a very long time and they know what is required."

Open Championship Ratings Up Sunday In Spite Of Rick Reilly's Essays

From ESPN, the final 2010 Open Championship ratings:

Thursday – 7 a.m. – 3:47 p.m. ET – 0.7 (was 1.0 in 2010)
 
Friday – 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET – 0.9 (was 1.5 in 2010)
 
Saturday – 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET – 2.1 (was 2.6 in 2010)
 
Sunday – 9 a.m. – 1:36 p.m. – 2.6 (was 2.4 in 2010)