Clarke prepares to defend Open title

Published Monday, 16 July 2012
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Darren Clarke has handed back the Claret Jug ahead of this year's Open at Lytham St Anne's.

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Despite claiming he has had a better year "off the course than on", the Dungannon man told UTV he is hopeful for his performance after starting to "play ok again".

However, the defending Open champion said some things are down to the luck of the draw.

"The Open is always one of the big ones, the length of the tee times is so long and spread out, the draw can make a massive difference.

"Last year I got a good tee time, I was fortunate with the draw, and that can make a massive difference to how well you do in a tournament," he added.

But the condition of the green was of concern to the 43-year-old, who added that the grass is thicker than usually found on a links golf course.

"There are a few patches out there where it's just absolutely brutal," said Clarke.

"If you start spraying the ball around this week, you might as well go home.

"Obviously you start missing the fairways there you're really going to struggle so it's a big challenge.

"There's a really huge premium on accuracy this week. There's no chance coming out of this rough at all.

"There could be some lost balls in there, even with spotters and everything."

But championship organisers R&A say recent bad weather has affected the course, but several professionals have said they are satisfied with its condition.

"The feedback we have had from a large enough body of players to be satisfied that they represent the field is that it is fair and well set up," R&A communications director Malcolm Booth told Press Association Sport.

"A large number of players have expressed how pleased they are with the course set-up, which seems to be very positive.

Booth said there had been no alterations to the course as a result of the bad weather and they did not plan to make any at this late stage.

© UTV News
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