Darren Clarke reveals practice frustrations after difficult first round: ‘I should have spent more time in the Harbour Bar!'

Belfast Telegraph

17-07-2025

The former Champion Golfer of the Year has been in Portrush preparing for the tournament for the last two weeks and played a practice round with Rory McIlroy and Tom McKibbin on Tuesday, intent on maximising his ability to compete against the best of the world at the final Major of the year.
That being said, after beginning his bid for a second Claret Jug with a four-over 75 on the Dunluce Links, Clarke allowed himself to have a bit of a joke at his own expense, joking that he should have passed the days away somewhere else.
"Coming in here shooting four-over, maybe I should have spent more time in the Harbour Bar than out here!' joked the 56-year-old.
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"It's great. I love getting home. It's one of those things. Unfortunately I'm so busy now over in the States it's tough for me to get home as much as I want."
While his comment about the Harbour Bar was tongue-in-cheek, there was genuine frustration over his round for Clarke as, besides a delightful chip-in birdie on the par-four 17th, he struggled for momentum on the Dunluce Links.
Only one other birdie was on his card during the round, at the par-five seventh, as six bogeys led to a round of 75 which has him battling to make it into the weekend at his home Open, like in 2019.
"I played really nicely and practised and everything was good. Then today just didn't quite have it. That was it,' he explained.
"You'd think I've never played here before, some of the places I hit it to. That's frustrating. I know you can't hit it short of the third. I know you can't hit it right on seven. I just hit it a few places that you cannot hit it here. I know better. Unfortunately, I just did. Then I couldn't really borrow a putt to go with it.
"It was a tricky day, could have been worse. Just got to play better tomorrow."
The chip-in on 17, though, was an obvious highlight, Clarke missing the green short left in the fescue and seemingly giving himself little room to work with, but he was able to chop it out over the greenside bunker and it released perfectly down the slope and into the hole for the birdie.
'Something went my way, which was nice! You don't hole ones like that too often, so that was pretty cool,' added the former European Ryder Cup captain.
"I had a really enjoyable day, just disappointed with the score obviously.'
There was one other pleasing moment for Clarke and that was watching good friend Pádraig Harrington hitting the opening tee shot of the tournament, the same honour that was bestowed upon him when The Open returned to Royal Portrush in 2019.
The two-time Open champion would lead the tournament after the first hole as not only did he hit his tee shot down the fairway but he would go on to birdie it, and Clarke was proud of Harrington for handling his emotions.
"He made three, didn't he? I told him the other day, I made three (in 2019), so you should do the same. And he did,' laughed Clarke.
"It's one of those sorts of things where, if you haven't played a Ryder Cup, you don't understand what it's all about until you do something like that. It's a huge honour to hit the opening tee shot, especially for somebody like Pádraig in Ireland.
"As much as I told him he was going to feel nervous and feel a bit of pressure when he walked down the steps, he probably didn't believe me, knowing Pádraig like I do. But I guess whenever he got there and got on the tee, oh, this is pretty big. So I'm glad to hear he was emotional about it."