Darren Clarke can win the Smurfit European Open - by doing his best Eiffel Tower impression.

Sports mechanics guru Dr Paul Hurrion has told Clarke to widen his putting stance to gain more consistency on the greens.

Now Clarke hopes that it will pay off with a winner's cheque for ¤481,245 and his tenth European Tour win on Sunday evening.

Hurrion said: "I had Darren in my lab at the Forest of Arden and when he was over a putt I gave him a little shove in the back and he fell over.

"He's a big man but we discovered that his centre of gravity was moving around far too much and so we told him to stand like the Eiffel Tower."

Hurrion works with Olympic high divers and athletes as well as putting expert, Harold Swash.

And he has also spent SEVEN hours in the lab with Padraig Harrington in an effort to make the Dubliner's silky putting stroke even smoother.

Clarke only spent a couple of hours there - hooked up to cameras and computers - but he has admitted that he is already seeing the benefits of staying as still as statue.

He confessed: "I am trying to stay still and stop that movement. I was moving about a little bit without realizing it and I am trying to stay quiet.

"If you move it's harder to keep the clubhead square. We all fall into bad habits and it wasn't obvious to the naked eye. It was only when you got onto the computers that you could see what was happening."

Away from the green, Clarke plans to remain loyal to his usual aggressive style off the tee in his bid for a second European Open title in three years.

He shot a 60 here in 1999 but that is no longer recognised as a course record since the course was lengthened and hundreds of new trees were added in 2000.

He said: "It's a lot longer and since I shot the 60 but it wasn't an easy golf course then and I think it should be recognised as the course record."

Asked if aggression was the best policy at the K Club, Clarke announced that he certainly wouldn't be holding back

He said: "It's the way I usually play. I don't usually lay up at par fives. I have a go at it and I've done it on this course before.

"I wouldn't have been able to shoot 60 here if I hadn't. It's a bit tougher but it's still the same golf course."

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© Brian Keogh 2003

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