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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 23, 2005

Darren Clarke

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Darren, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at THE PLAYERS Championship back here in Ponte Vedra for THE PLAYERS Championship. Talk about the week ahead and how you're playing and what you expect.

DARREN CLARKE: I think same as per usual. The course is going to be very tough again this week, although the rain will soften it up a little bit, so it will make the fairways a little bit easier to hit and the greens a little bit easier to hold, but any missed shots you're still going to pay a penalty for. It's going to be a tough week.

As for my game, it's not an awful lot better than it was last week at Bay Hill, so I'm going to have to spend a lot of time on the range and hopefully find something somewhere.

Q. What precisely are you looking for on the range? Is there any specific thing that you're looking for?

DARREN CLARKE: To find the golf ball (laughter) closer to the middle of the club face.

Q. That bad?

DARREN CLARKE: I'm just struggling a little bit at the moment.

Q. And yet not a bad last round at Bay Hill.

DARREN CLARKE: It was fine. I made a lot of decent shots mixed in with a lot of horrendous shots. There's a bit of good in the bad, but this course is so penalizing you can't get away with your bad this week. I'm going to have to improve if I want to give myself a chance.

Q. Who are you working with?

DARREN CLARKE: I did a little bit with Pete Cowen this week. He's giving me a little bit of pointers. I've asked him a couple things because I've been a little bit lost.

Q. Is he encouraging?

DARREN CLARKE: He's given me a couple of things to have a little bit of a go at, so we'll see. We'll see if you can manage to get the little ball before the big ball.

Q. What's the tougher finish, 17 and 18 this week or last week?

DARREN CLARKE: You'd have to say 17 and 18 this week. I mean, I wasn't too good on 17 and 18 last week, so it leaves it open for this week.

Q. Why is it, because 17 is a little island?

DARREN CLARKE: 17, yes, is more mentally challenging than it is for the actual shot. 18 is such a tough par 4. Doesn't this always play in the top two or three toughest on Tour?

Q. Doral last year and Bay Hill last year.

DARREN CLARKE: This is always tough.

Q. You don't hit driver off the tee on 18, do you?

DARREN CLARKE: Whatever I feel I can possibly get in the fairway is what I'm going to hit off that.

Q. How hard are you on yourself coming into these tournaments like this?

DARREN CLARKE: More realistic than hard, I think. I'm not so hard on myself. I realize that I'm not quite bearing all cylinders now. It's easy to not attract so much and play hard and shoot a decent score than to get down on myself and expect to play through it. That's not the cure. I'm not quite swinging the way I want to, and I'll just go out and play and hopefully add up the numbers at the end of the week and hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm not as hard on myself as I used to be, put it that way.

Q. Can you self-correct very well?

DARREN CLARKE: In a word, no, because I've got a few -- most of us out here, we all have the same bad habits that we all fall back into. It just so happens that I've got a lot that I'm trying to pick which one is which and I'm not sure all the time. I'm trying to figure it out. I'm getting there slowly.

Q. As notorious as this course can be, what's the strangest thing to ever happen to you at this tournament on the property?

DARREN CLARKE: It sounds like you know something (laughter). This property brings out a lot of good and a lot of bad. I'm trying to forget the bad ones. I can't really remember what's the strangest thing that's happened. What were you going to tell me?

Q. Nothing, just curious, any strange bounces?

DARREN CLARKE: You always get those. That goes without saying.

Q. None that stick with you that were beyond bizarre?

DARREN CLARKE: I think I hit one a couple of years ago on No. 3. The flag was in the front, and I hit a 9-iron, straight down the flag, landed on a sprinkler head and went straight left into the hazard. Everyone is going to get funny bounces out here.

Q. You just accept it?

DARREN CLARKE: You accept it and get on with it. This week with the rain it's probably going to be a little bit softer so you're not going to see as many as those as we've seen in the past. When it gets firm, you can get some really strange bounces.

Q. When people talk about -- I mean, it's probably going to be relatively soft as you said. As we talk overall golf, if you want to make scores higher, is that better accomplished growing the grass in the rough or growing the grass on the greens? I'm kind of thinking of last week as a little bit of an example?

DARREN CLARKE: To toughen up golf courses, I'm not a believer in making golf courses longer. I'm a believer in keeping them medium but making the rough uniform from the edge of the fairway to 20 yards right either side. Sometimes we play in certain venues that the rough is very penal from just off the fairway, and if you miss it by 15, 20 yards you're okay. Unfortunately for me, this week is very uniform, so I'm going to be chopping out all week.

Q. There seems to be a competition for the most outrageous wardrobes out here on the Tour. Where do you think --

DARREN CLARKE: I refer to it as style.

Q. When you look at yourself and Ian and all those guys, do you all enjoy topping each other?

DARREN CLARKE: It's not a competition. Do you want to see guys wearing khakis and white shirts or do you want to see somebody a little bit different? I think the people that come to watch want to see -- there's more to us than just playing golf. I think it brightens it up and makes it a bit of fun.

Q. Who is this tailor?

DARREN CLARKE: He's a guy back in London, Tony Q'Aja.

Q. In your years on the Tour, who do you think has been the most ghastly dresser?

DARREN CLARKE: I haven't been out here that long to really remember.

Q. Do you like looking at those sort of classic golf footage of Doug Sanders and those guys?

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, it's all a bit different. Everybody dressed a little bit differently in those days. We do have -- we are out there working every day and trying to do as well as we can, but it's nice to lighten it up a little bit now and then.

Q. What was the best comment you heard Sunday?

DARREN CLARKE: It's not Halloween yet (laughter).

Q. Grame said that there were some outfits that when they pulled them out he wouldn't wear them. Have you ever had that experience?

DARREN CLARKE: I have got one pair at home that will gather dust. Apart from that, no, the rest of them, I'll put them on.

Q. What color are they?

DARREN CLARKE: They're like a 1970s -- like a sparkly silver with a black stripe down the side. I'm just waiting for a fancy dress party one of these days. Those ones just really won't see the golf course.

Q. Sounds like of disco.

DARREN CLARKE: '70s disco, yeah.

Q. Do you have anything special for Augusta? Do they tailor things differently for this week?

DARREN CLARKE: They have a few different ones. Some of the fabrics are difficult to get ahold off. I'll see what's there. I'll close my eyes and point and see what's what.

Q. Anything look good with a green jacket?

DARREN CLARKE: There's a couple good choices, a couple that will be okay.

Q. What kind of fabric is it?

DARREN CLARKE: It's all different, all different.

Q. Two for one specials there or no?

DARREN CLARKE: Definitely not.

Q. Graeme was saying this guy charges a small fortune, McDowell. How much is a pair of pants?

DARREN CLARKE: I'm not going to sit here and tell you how much a pair of pants is.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Can we get back to THE PLAYERS Championship?

DARREN CLARKE: This is the fifth major, and I'd really like to play well, and hopefully it'll rain and I'll be inside and you won't see what I'm wearing.

Q. What's it like representing your country on the Tour with so many Irish golfers doing so well?

DARREN CLARKE: It's great. You know, at the moment we had Padraig Harrington and Des Smyth the same week on the Champions Tour and Graeme finished 2nd last week, and everybody seems to be playing pretty well. When you think about the size of us compared to other countries, I think we're doing pretty well. There are a lot of good players.

Q. I know on the European Tour there's a little more camaraderie than there is on this Tour, but do you get a chance to hang with each other on this Tour as much?

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, we do. The camaraderie out here, there's a lot of that, as well. Certainly from my perspective, I have played on this Tour for quite some time, so I feel as much camaraderie as I do at home. I play as many guys here than I do in Europe. Some of the guys coming out of Tour school I have no idea who they are. The camaraderie is just as good over here for me.

Q. Do you think that Retief gets overlooked when we talk about the top of the PGA TOUR and Tiger and Vijay and Ernie?

DARREN CLARKE: Possibly by you guys but certainly not by us. He's one of the best players in the world. He's won two U.S. Opens. You've got to play some to win a couple of those. He's a world-class player.

Q. Do you remember what he was wearing when he won his first U.S. Open?

DARREN CLARKE: Beige and khaki?

Q. Looking ahead to Augusta, could you talk about the difference in playing 12 and 16, the par 3s on the back? Which one is a greater challenge? Can you see that being a case where one might set up better for a lefty than a righty and vice versa?

DARREN CLARKE: Are you trying to tell me that Phil is going to win again? Is that what you're asking?

Q. No, I just ask you if the par 3s set up differently -- how do you know I'm not talking about Nick O'Hern.

DARREN CLARKE: Correct.

Q. Or Mike Weir?

DARREN CLARKE: That one was too obvious.

I think 12 in my opinion for what it's worth, I think 12 is a tougher hole because -- you guys know it's all documented when the wind goes, it can switch when the ball is halfway there.

Q. I'm speaking mostly on the Sunday pin.

DARREN CLARKE: It doesn't matter where it is on that green. Just getting a look at it on dry land there somewhere -- I think 12 always plays that much more difficult. 16 if you have a shot in there you can feed it into where the flag is -- maybe not now since they've changed it to the back of the green, but you can always feed it into the green if you hit a good shot, whereas 12 you're never quite sure until the ball lands.

Q. We've talked about the fireworks really on the back nine. Those par 3s, is your thinking different when you get to that tee box on 12 and on 16? Are you still thinking birdie on 16, for example?

DARREN CLARKE: If I was to ever get myself in contention at Augusta, I would be able to answer that question, but at the moment, I couldn't really give you an answer to that one. They're tough no matter what stage of the week it is.

Q. How would you rate 12 at Augusta against 17 here? Which is the better as a golf hole or the more challenging?

DARREN CLARKE: They're both very challenging. At Augusta you can always be a little long. Here you've got to hit the green or you go to the drop zone. I don't know if it's tougher or not, but they're completely different holes and it's tough to walk off with 3s on both of them.

Q. Do I get the feeling that this week is more a work in progress and that you're aiming for Augusta at the moment?

DARREN CLARKE: I'm aiming for Augusta, but certainly I would like to get my game in shape for Augusta.

Q. In preparing for golf, has it been a tough year emotionally for you to deal with the golf?

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, there's obviously been a lot of things going on, but whenever I've gotten out here, I've tried to work as hard as I can. I've had some decent results so far. I finished 4th in South Africa, finished 6th at AT & T, 3rd at Riviera. Where did I finish, 8th last week? I'm sort of jumping around, but it's not too bad. There's room for improvement, put it that way.

Q. Is it surprising or encouraging, last week?

DARREN CLARKE: Surprising or encouraging? I don't know, really. My finish was pretty good. I was 5-under for the last seven holes, but that was the front side, not the back side. That was a good way to finish the tournament, but I'm still not quite where I want to be with my swing, so we'll see. This week is so penalizing, as I've said, that marginal shots can get severely punished here.

Q. Could you venture a guess as to why between them, Tiger, Vijay, Phil and Ernie have won one time here, since these are the guys everybody seems to be looking at every week? Seems like they're in contention every week but not so much here.

DARREN CLARKE: Possibly because in a way it's a little bit like Augusta. There's such a fine line between shots going close and shots going to impossible positions where you can't get it up-and-down. You know, you need that little bit of run of luck to go with you, as well. If you don't have it, then you know you're going to beat your head against a brick wall here. I can't put my finger on it. Maybe you guys can, but that's what I would hazard a guess at. This year might be a little bit different because it's softer.

Q. When Adam Scott won at Riviera, he talked about the fact that he wasn't there yet. He's not in that level of the Top 5 guys. Are you there, close to being there? Where are you in your own mind?

DARREN CLARKE: No, I'm not nearly there obviously because I've been higher than what I am in the World Rankings. I think I'm currently 16th, and I've been higher than that. One of my goals this year was to get back into the Top 10 again and then go forward from there. My results so far this year have been okay. The way I'm playing is not really the way I want to be. I know, I've got a lot of improvement to do if I want to get up close to the guys at the top.

Q. Are you a result-oriented person, or if you were playing the best you could play and finished 10th you'd be happy with that?

DARREN CLARKE: I'd never be happy finishing 10th.

Q. So you're result-oriented?

DARREN CLARKE: I wouldn't like that at all.

Q. So you were hitting the ball horrible and you finished 1st you'd be happy?

DARREN CLARKE: If I was hitting the ball horrible and finished 2nd or 1st, I'd take that. If I'm going to finish 9th and 10th, no, I wouldn't take that. There's a fine line. Sometimes I do take great enjoyment out of shooting a 70 when I've hit it terrible all the way around. That's good. But I don't want to do that for four rounds. It's rare if a guy won a tournament that doesn't play great golf for four days.

End of FastScripts.

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