Clarke welcomed back with open arms
Darren Clarke returns to golf tomorrow just 32 days after his wife Heather lost her battle with cancer.
And nobody is happier to see the Ulsterman back in action – and in Europe’s team for the Ryder Cup next week – than Tiger Woods.
While Clarke prepares for the Madrid Masters, his first event since he missed the halfway cut at the Open in July, Woods is at Wentworth for the HSBC World Match Play Championship.
On Europe captain Ian Woosnam’s decision to give Clarke a wildcard for the K Club, Woods said: “I think it’s fantastic.
“What Darren has gone through, you don’t wish that on anybody. Darren is one of my good friends and to see him actually get picked to play says a lot about what Woosie thinks of Darren as a player.
“I talked to Darren about that. It’s about the quality of player you are and the person you are. He earned the right to be on the team.
“Darren, I think, is going to be a huge inspiration, not only for the Europeans but for all of us as players to see him there and playing.
“It’s truly remarkable that he’s going to play and compete. I can’t wait to see him and give him a big hug.”
Woods took six weeks off after the death of his father in May and had not played competitively for over two months when he turned up for the US Open at Winged Foot. He had back-to-back 76s and missed his first cut in a major as a professional.
Clarke’s last round was an 82 at Hoylake, where he said he would be out of golf “for the foreseeable future” because of his wife’s health.
Two weeks ago, however, he told Woosnam he was available for selection and had entered the Madrid tournament to get back into the competitive groove ahead of the first-ever Ryder Cup on Irish soil.
Padraig Harrington and Jose Maria Olazabal, two more of the K Club side, also play in Madrid, while Colin Montgomerie, David Howell, Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Robert Karlsson are in the Wentworth field.
Resting this week are Paul McGinley, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson.
Clarke is paired in the first two rounds with Thomas Bjorn, who had hoped to be the other wildcard pick and who launched a ferocious attack on Woosnam’s captaincy after Westwood got the vote.
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