WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 24, 2000

Darren Clarke

DARREN CLARKE: Get used to seeing Tiger's name up there every week. But another situation where we're all going to have to play very well again and see what happens.

DARREN CLARKE: I hit the ball reasonably well today. On this course, the greens, as quick as they are, and with the slopes on them, that help made it a lot easier.

DARREN CLARKE: The 2nd I hit driver, 3-wood to 20 feet, 2-putts. The 3rd I hit driver and 9-iron to eight feet. Bogey at 7, I hit a poor tee shot. 4-iron short front right; chipped it up and lipped out. No. 8, I had a good tee shot. I hit driver, 9-iron to about 15 feet and holed it. 14, I hit driver, middle of the fairway, pitching wedge to about six feet; holed it. 17, I hit 3-wood, 9-iron to about three feet, and holed it.

DARREN CLARKE: Yes, here. Definitely.

DARREN CLARKE: Overall, it was definitely very good. I've always struggled on the greens here before. My putting line has not been as good as it was before as it was today.

DARREN CLARKE: Probably. But I think when we keep coming back to venues, courses, there's a lot to be said for knowing the golf course. I think this is my third time here, and I've got to know the golf course. I know where all the really bad places are, so I try and stay away from those. You just get to know which putts are a little bit more difficult and what side and what-have-you, and that only comes from playing a regular event on the same course.

DARREN CLARKE: Not at all. It doesn't make any difference who is on the top of the leaderboard. I'm trying to play as well as I can and shoot the lowest score as I can. It just so happens to be that Tiger is up there every week and we're always chasing him.

DARREN CLARKE: A lot of questions there. I drove the ball reasonably well. I think this course definitely puts a premium on using the driver -- because of the length of the par 4s; you have got to use it. And very important to keep it in the fairway; albeit, the rough is not as quite as bad as it has been the past few years. But, you know, we can get 7-, 8-, 9-irons out of it; whereas, before you just chip back on the fairway. But still huge -- to try and stop the ball, you must be on the fairway to try and stop it coming in to some of the greens.

DARREN CLARKE: I don't know, 6(-under) or something like that. Billy said: "He's off again." I said: "Thanks." (Laughter.)

DARREN CLARKE: I wouldn't like to tell you where I would be.

DARREN CLARKE: Yes -- I'm in peak physical condition.

DARREN CLARKE: That's very diplomatic. (Laughter.) You can say it.

DARREN CLARKE: I don't know. People have different views on it. Obviously, if you're playing continuously and have conditions like last week, and indeed a little bit today, it may be better for certain people to be in better shape than others. But as I said the other day, I'm not that bad. I'm sweating up a little bit, but I'm not that bad.

DARREN CLARKE: If things do not go right as well as they should, I find personally it very difficult to keep on trying to get up-and-down all the time. But when I won before, I haven't played the following week. In one of the biggest tournaments like this, a World Golf Championships, I haven't, or a major or what have you.

DARREN CLARKE: I watched the whole thing apart from the playoff.

DARREN CLARKE: I think, as I said the other day, I think Bob May played fantastic. He kept on hitting close all of the time. He just hit it straight at the flag, and he's got to be commended. It was a fantastic performance. But in saying that, Bob holed a lot of short putts because he hit it so close. But Tiger holed a lot of 10-footers and 15-footers and what-have-you; and you know, he just put them straight into the middle hole after hole and fortunately whenever I was playing him, he didn't do that against me. I was very lucky.

DARREN CLARKE: Yes, I would imagine so. But he hit the ball very well also, but he also made all the putts that he had to do, which he does on a regular basis these did I days.

DARREN CLARKE: That's a very naughty question.

DARREN CLARKE: I do find the gym occasionally. I'm about the same weight -- I'm the same weight now as I was three years ago. I was never that skinny, I'd have to say, but I'm the same now as I was three years ago.

DARREN CLARKE: He has a huge advantage on every golf course he plays. Because of his length, he's hitting a lot shorter clubs into the greens than the rest of us are. And as I mentioned earlier, with the flags tucked away, it's much easier to go at them with shorter irons than longer ones. Last week on 17 in regulation play, whenever Tiger had a little sand wedge into 17, you know, it was a flag that very few people could go at when they got in there with an 8-iron, where he only had 98 yards and hit sand iron in there very close.

DARREN CLARKE: I told him that. I told him as soon as I won the Open, I phoned him and said left a message: "The better you play, the better it's making me look. So keep on going." I left it on his voice mail. (Laughing.)