FROM A position of near-despair, Darren Clarke is looking towards a high finish for a second successive week when he competes in the Alamo English Open, starting at the Forest of Arden on Thursday.
Philip Walton will be defending the title he captured in a play-off with Colin Montgomerie.
"I hit an all-time low in my professional career when I missed the cut at Wentworth two weeks ago," said Clarke, who bounced back with a third-place finish behind Frank Nobilo in the Deutsche Bank Open in Hamburg last Sunday. "It (Wentworth) was my fifth missed cut in 10 tournaments this season and I couldn't see an end to it."
Essentially, it had to do with lack of confidence on the greens, leading to a putting average of about 34.5 per round. "with those sort of figures you can't compete," he said. His fortunes changed very much for the better in Hamburg, however, where his putting totals were 34, 32, 31 and 32 over the four days, an improvement of more than two putts per round.
"I had done a lot of work with my new coach, Bill Ferguson and my confidence got a further lift through a little tip from Peter Mitchell (a European Tour colleague) after the first round," he said. "There's still plenty of room for improvement, but at least I'm heading in the right direction."
He is now up from 90th to 37th in the Order of Merit, with £66,713 from 11 tournaments.
The Ulsterman has reason to feel optimistic about the Forest of Arden where he had rounds of 72, 67, 69 and 71 to finish in a share of fourth place behind Walton last year.
Next Monday he heads for Oakland Hills and his second challenge in the US Open. "I felt so bad after Wentworth that I was on the verge of pulling out of the US Open, but now I'm looking forward to the challenge," he said.
"It's still going to be very difficult, handling what are certain to be lightning-fast greens, judging from my experience of Oakmont two years ago. My goal at this stage is simply to make the cut."
Walton is also going through a lean season by his standards. His failure at Hamburg was his sixth missed cut in 10 outings. He, too, will he heading for Oakland Hills after the English Open but he has decided not to stay on for the FedEx St Jude Classic, for which he received an invitation the following week.
The Irish challengers at the Forest of Arden are Philip Walton, Padraig Harrington, Eamonn Darcy, Des Smyth, Christy O'Connor Jnr, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Raymond Burns, John McHenry and Francis Howley. David Higgins is sixth reserve.
