“I don’t want to go out and shoot 73 or 74 and have all you guys on my case,” Clarke told reporters after his round.

“I was quite pleased to shoot 68. I played very well. I had 31 putts and hit 17 greens. I missed a lot of chances too but I played really well.

“I wouldn’t say there were butterflies on the tee. I am always a little bit apprehensive before playing any tournament round.

“This morning I just wanted to get off to a good start. It was important for me to shoot a good score my first time back, and I did that, so it is always nice.

“As I said, I am not here to make up the numbers. I want to try to contend. I set myself a goal to play well and I did that.”

Playing with close friends and former Ryder Cup partners Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez, Clarke started on the back nine and moved quickly to two under par by following a chip-and-putt birdie at the par-five 11th with an eight iron to 15 feet at the 156-yard 13th.

He dropped his only shot of the day at the par-five 16th, where his third shot from a sandy lie spun back off the green into another poor lie from where he took three more to get down.

There were few mistakes after that as he came home in three-under-par 33 with further birdies at the second, fourth and ninth.

In fact, he could easily have been two or three shots better had it not been for a three-putt at the par-five eighth where his 30-foot eagle putt ran four feet past the hole and he missed the return.

Pleased to start his comeback with a sub-par round, Clarke’s only complaint was that he holed little on slowish greens.

“I hit it the right side of the flag most of the times today and gave myself an awful lot of chances,” he said. “With a warm putter I would have been an awful lot lower.

“The greens were a little bit slow. We all struggled on the greens today. It wasn’t just me. I think Miguel and Thomas did, and we didn’t make our share at all. They are a decent quality but none of us got on a roll and holed any.”

On playing with Jimenez and Bjorn, two of his closest friends on tour, he said: “It was great. Two of my really good friends and two Ryder Cup partners in the past.”

While Clarke was unlucky on the greens, lipping out three times on the front nine and coming up just short with birdie putts at the first, fifth and seventh, he admitted he had had his share of luck as well.

At the fifth, he came dangerously close to going out of bounds but got a fortunate ricochet off a tree, punched a superb seven-iron recovery under branches to 20 feet and came up inches short of his birdie.

He explained: “It was the only poor shot I really hit all day. It was a nice break and sometimes that maybe makes up for those (putts) that should have gone in and didn’t go in.”

Without a win since he captured the Visa Taiheiyo Masters in Japan at the end of last year, Clarke pointed out that his thoughts have been elsewhere as his wife Heather battled cancer.

He said: “It has been a while. As much as I have been trying to win them obviously for Heather and stuff, it didn’t happen. My thoughts were not always on the golf.”