Golfing gremlins could ruin Darren Clarke's date with destiny in the Open.

Thunder-faced Clarke looked a worried man as he rushed to the range for help after his final practice round yesterday.

It made for an amazing contrast with Harrington who believes he has found the spark that could ignite his challenge for the Claret Jug.

The Dubliner was beaming after a series of sessions with golf psychologist Dr Bob Rotella helped him to regain his focus.

But Clarke looked far from happy yesterday as he dashed to see his coach Butch Harmon after a round with superstars Davis Love, Fred Couples and David Duval.

He groaned: "I've played okay for the last few weeks but I haven't hit the ball quite the way I would like. I'm working on the right things and hopefully it will come right."

Asked if he knew the cause of his problems Clarke snapped: "If I knew what was wrong I'd be playing better, wouldn't I?

"It's tough out there and I'd like to be hitting it a little bit better. I'm working away but it's not quite where I need it to be. Hopefully I'll find it."

At one stage of the session with Harmon, links specialist Clarke used a special arm brace to help him strike his irons more crisply.

And while he has overshadowed Harrington as the top Irish bet for the Open, a question mark hangs over his ability to cope with the pressure.

He said: "My chance in Troon in '97 came too soon but I feel that I am ready now. Hopefully my game will come together. I just wishing I was hitting it a bit better."

But smiling Dubliner Harrington believes he has found the key to regaining his form after a recent flop in the European Open.

Sessions with Rotella, the golf psychologist he shares with Clarke, have convinced him that he is back on track after finishing 61st at the K Club two weeks ago.

Rotella said: "Padraig has realised that he doesn't need to be perfect. He just concentrated on hitting the ball and stopped questioning everything about his routine and every detail of every shot."

Harrington stated: "I'm actually having fun hitting the ball again. The course will test your patience but that's always the way in a Major."

The Dubliner knows that it will be a case of staying extra patient at a rock-hard Sandwich links that will cause good shots to bounce into the rough or deep bunkers.

And Clarke agrees that he will only have a chance to win if he manages to keep his fiery temper under control.

He explained: "The course is very difficult and testing when the breeze gets up as much as it did today. I don't know if it's a fun place to play, but it is very demanding. You can flush every shot down the middle of the fairway every time and end up in the rough.

"I'd like a breeze but it's difficult to get it on the fairway and close to the hole and with the slopes that there are on the greens it's not going to be easy.

"Links golf like this should suit me. It should do and hopefully it will do. But I'd like to be playing better.

"The greens are slow to slowish and they are tough to read and there are a lot of subtle borrows that I couldn't work out. A little bit of rain wouldn't do it any harm."

Clarke got his wish when a heavy thunderstorm lashed the course for a short while in the late afternoon.

But it is unlikely to take much of the sting out of a course that they players love to hate.

Paul McGinley knows how it feels to lead the Open - he was in front at halfway at Royal Lytham in 1996.

But Sandwich is a course that will test his short game skills to the limit.

He said: "At then end of the day it's golf. But it's a different form of golf. Coming here is like a tennis player going from a hard court to a grass court and then having to adjust back.

"On this course it comes off the ground fast and requires a lot more imagination. On a soft parkland course you have to hit it from A to B to C to D.

"But here it goes from A to B but it goes to Z before it stops."

McGinley has had just one top ten finish from 15 starts this season and plummeted 53 places to 152nd in the world rankings since January.

He agreed: "It's never much fun finishing 40th every week but last week in Loch Lomond I was 20th , which was a bit better.

"It's better than missing cuts. But I'm going through a bit of a flat period. Hopefully I'll get hot with the putter again and maybe even this week."

As for the course, McGinley believes the players are calling it 'traditional' when they mean 'unfair'.

He said: "At the end of the day it's the same for everybody but you have to take the bad bounces on the chin and get on with it.

"No matter how well you play, if you hit 11 greens in regulation here you will have had a great round. You will miss greens and have a lot of chips and six footers for par . That's going to be a big factor this week.

"I was hitting the ball 300 yards with a two-iron with wind and an extremely fast course.

"It's not necessarily a good thing. Even going in with a wedge or a nine iron you have got to be very very careful."

The course has several holes that could prove to be too much for the best in the game if the wind blows.

Clarke picked out the 455 yard eighth and the two closing holes as the keys.

He said: "The eighth is so long in this breeze. But on 17 there is no fairway to aim at as such. You can hit two balls and land them a foot apart and one will go straight and the other will end up in the rough."

But while Clarke's swing might not be as well-oiled as he would like, Rotella believes that his client knows exactly what he has to do to win.

He said: "I think Darren has a feeling of destiny that he is going to win Majors. He can hardly wait for it to start, but he'll have to be incredibly patient.

"I tell my guys that I wish the key to playing this game well was to get impatient and upset. But if you really believe that you are going to win the championship you are not going to worry about a double bogey on a Friday.

"If I see a guys is pouting over a bad shot on a Friday then he is not going to win the golf tournament."

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© Brian Keogh 2003

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