Clarke proves he's a better boy without the black stuff

SLIMMER, fitter and considerably richer, European Open winner Darren Clarke today pronounced himself ready to muscle in on a maiden major golf title.

The manner in which the almost svelte-like Clarke packed out his bank balance with a first prize of 333,330 at the K Club here left the 32-year-old, Surrey-based Ulsterman convinced that he can mount a challenge for the 130th Open Championship which tees off at Royal Lytham and St Annes a week on Thursday.

After a final round of 66 gave him a tournament total of 273, 15 under par, Clarke said: "I hit it right to the flag most of the time and I made very few mistakes. It is great knowing that my game is in good shape going into the next two weeks."

Two years ago Clarke suffered the biggest disappointment of his career in this part of County Kildare. Then, the Ryder Cup star shot 75 on the last day having set a course record 60 and holed in one during a round of 66 earlier in the tournament.

From six shots in front, he lost the title to close friend Lee Westwood and now recalls: "That was as low as I have felt on a golf course. So winning this time is a serious high for me."

Higher, indeed, than his head-to-head triumph over Tiger Woods in the final of last year's Andersen Consulting World Championship Match Play in California.

"That was obviously a huge tournament," said Clarke. "But to win here at home was equally as important."

Clarke's victory, secured before a tournament record last day gallery of 28,000, marks the first time an Irish player has won a European Tour title in Ireland since John O'Leary captured the Irish Open in 1982. O'Leary marked the moment by handing Clarke a pint of celebratory Guinness in the locker room.

That was the first time in several months that a drop of the black brew had passed Clarke's lips. A training regime designed to increase strength and flexibility, coupled with a diet suggested by Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance, has seen Clarke shed one and three-quarter stones.

This lover of good food and wine revealed: "I'm on a diet in which I don't eat a lot. It is protein, protein, protein and no Guinness. But I don't have quite as big a belly to swing around and I feel much stronger, and certainly more flexible, than I have done for some time."

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