VOLVO PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 24, 2001

Darren Clarke

DARREN CLARKE: Last Friday evening in Hamburg, I made an emergency phone call to Butch to see what was going on when I was 5-over with whatever was left for the next morning. We had a bit of a chat and he got Claude, his son, to come over. He arrived on Sunday, and I met him when I came back, and we worked on Monday, Tuesday and yesterday morning. We put a lot of work in, swing feels much better. Hopefully, I'm going to see some results this week.

DARREN CLARKE: It wasn't the direction I wanted to, so that was worrying me quite a lot.

DARREN CLARKE: I hope so. We'll find out. It feels a lot better, I know.

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, it's a big tournament. It's one that we all would like to win, and certainly I've had a few chances in the past, and haven't managed to win here, but hopefully this year, I will give myself another chance and finish it off this time.

DARREN CLARKE: I wasn't making a proper shoulder turn because I wasn't getting behind the ball. And when I wasn't getting behind the ball, my arms were collapsing at the top and making me very narrow and struggling to get at the ball on the way down and having to hit it more through my hands than I should do.

DARREN CLARKE: It's the same thing. Butch and Claude went through a lot of previous tapes before Claude came over and we were working on certain things, and then we spoke to Butch in the evening. And I've got the software in my computer now, which Claude brought over with him, and I can tape a swing and send it over and do all that sort of stuff.

DARREN CLARKE: Yes, they do.

DARREN CLARKE: Yes.

DARREN CLARKE: Claude is 32.

DARREN CLARKE: Yes, it is. I've been trying to get it organised for a while, but it is the latest software that Claude has brought over with him. It is the same software that they use in the golf school in Vegas.

DARREN CLARKE: Yes, a camcorder. Plug it into the laptop and go from there.

DARREN CLARKE: Yes. It's idiot-proof. If I can use it, it would have to be.

DARREN CLARKE: He was, yes.

DARREN CLARKE: Give up. (Laughs). He told me what I was doing and made a few suggestions for the weekend, but I did a lot of good work whenever -- I have done a lot of good work with Claude.

DARREN CLARKE: Which good round was Friday? I didn't play any good holes on Friday. No, it was Saturday morning.

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, but that was only because of going birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, par, whatever. That wasn't because it was set up with solid birdies and pars from the day previous. That was only because I went out and did a few things on the Saturday morning.

DARREN CLARKE: I spend far too much on gadgets and computers and gadgets and things are some of those gadgets, so I spend a lot of money.

DARREN CLARKE: That's me.

DARREN CLARKE: No, battery doesn't last long enough for that. But I do upgrade them quite often. But this one will be very beneficial for me. Obviously, with Butch and Claude in Vegas and me playing the majority of my golf over here, it will make it much easier to get as many or as few lessons as I wish. It comes back to me with lines and voice and all sorts of things on it to what I'm doing.

DARREN CLARKE: Depends on how I'm playing. If I'm playing okay, I just speak to him every -- once a month or something like that. If I'm playing perilous, more emergency phone calls.

DARREN CLARKE: No, it was Butch's suggestion. That was his.

DARREN CLARKE: From the way I was playing very, very poorly those first couple of rounds. I hit the ball in all sorts of directions, and I wasn't happy, so I to make a few -- take a few steps to fix it.

DARREN CLARKE: No, he left yesterday afternoon.

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, and I'm equally rude back. (Smiles).

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, but you could not print them, but yes there was. There was a few of those still star things that you put on paper; there was a few of those.

DARREN CLARKE: I have no idea. I have no idea. Probably didn't bother me as much in those days. I could afford to get away with an odd bad round, but you can't do it out here.

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, I did, but so did everybody else.

DARREN CLARKE: Well, there's a few premiere tournaments in Europe. Obviously this being one of them. Volvo Masters being another one. Not detracting from all the rest of the tournaments, but some flagship events. I have won the Volvo Masters and I would like to win here. I enjoy the golf course. I think it is a great test. You've got to hit a lot of different shots around here and I think the condition they have got it in this week is fantastic, fits in with the weather. It's going to be hot and fiery, so there's going to be a lot of importance in keeping it on the fairways, so I think a better knowledge of this golf course is going to be very important this week.

DARREN CLARKE: I was a member up until three weeks ago.

DARREN CLARKE: I wasn't using the facility at all. I played once last year, and maybe once the year before, so it was silly to keep my membership going.

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, I play Sunningdale most of the time.

DARREN CLARKE: No. I've never been a professional member at Sunningdale. There's no professional members. But they are very good to me. They give me full courtesy of the course.

DARREN CLARKE: Because my hand-eye coordination is very good. I grew up playing at home in Ireland in the wind where you've got to hit a lot of knock-down shots. You've got to use your hands a lot to hit different shots, and because of that, I can swing purely and still save it with my hands because I've grown up doing that. But, in order to be consistent and hit the ball the way I want to more often, then I have to make my swing a little bit technically better. That's how I can do it.

DARREN CLARKE: No, I'm delighted they have given me courtesy of the golf course. I'm very happy to go along and play if they will let me. It doesn't bother me in the slightest.