Darren Clarke, 51, is sheltering-in-place at his home at the Abaco Club in The Bahamas and playing golf there every day. Unfortunately, his family is divided due to travel restrictions, which left his wife and younger son, Conor, back in Northern Ireland and older son, Tyrone, who plays golf at Lynn University, in Florida.
“We’re all in different places, which is a bit of a nightmare, but we’re all healthy,” Clarke said.
Always one of the more colorful golfers, Clarke dishes on celebrating with the Claret Jug, the time he addressed the full membership at Pine Valley, and his burning desire to win again.
Golfweek: Of all the places you could live, why did you choose Abaco Club in the Bahamas?
Darren Clarke: When I first came here, I fell in love with it. The horseshoe beach and the golf course is fantastic. It’s got some of the best saltwater fly-fishing in the world. That kind of ticks all my boxes. I’ve been a global player so I’ve been around and Abaco is my happy place. I come here and get on to island time. This is as good as it gets.
GW: What’s the biggest fish you’ve ever hooked?
DC: I’m a permit guy through and through. That’s the holy grail for me. I got a 38-pounder a few years ago on a fly rod, just a few off the world record on the test I was doing. They are the most difficult fish on a fly, so not only do I manage to irritate myself playing golf, but I have to go after the hardest fish as well. That pretty much sums me up.
GW: How has Abaco recovered since Hurricane Dorian moved through last September?
DC: It’s been slow. Marsh Harbor is still a far cry from what it was. It was total devastation. The Bahamas relies on tourism for generating the majority of its income and now to be hit by COVID-19, it’s a double whammy. It’s really tough times for all the Bahamians here.
GW: I know that a lot of the homes at Abaco Club have names like “Sandcastle.” What’s yours called?
DC: Mine is called Sea Breeze. Partially because I do have a tendency to get my butt stuck at Flippers Beach Bar and I’ve ordered too many sea breezes. But I can stumble home quite easily.
GW: In 1990, you had a dominant year in Irish amateur golf, but you were still thinking of waiting to turn pro until after the Walker Cup. What convinced you to do otherwise?
DC: I spoke to Chubby Chandler, my manager, at the end of August in Dublin. He came and met me and said if you turn pro you’ll be a better player in a year’s time than if you wait and I took his advice. He’d been a player and he told me that he’d made every mistake I was going to make and would steer me away from as many of those as possible. We made a handshake deal and that’s it — no contract, just a shake of the hand to this day.
GW: You had the opening tee time at the 2019 Open, at the course where you grew up playing. What were the emotions like when you went to the tee at Royal Portrush?
DC: The tee time was 6:40 in the morning. It’s more of a ceremonial thing to do it. But for it to be at Portrush and to be an Open champion, it was a huge honor for me. I walked down those steps and all of a sudden I felt, Ooh! This is a little more nerve-wracking than I thought it was going to be. I’ve played the course a thousand times and it’s usually a 2-iron or something and chase it down the left. All of a sudden I decided I needed a bigger head so I hit driver. I’ve had some amazing experiences on the first tee at Ryder Cups and the like but this was equally special.
A special day #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/EXrid1Bd54
— Darren Clarke (@DarrenClarke60) July 18, 2019
GW: With the Open canceled this year, you’ll have to wait to go back to Royal St. George’s, site of your 2011 Open victory, until next year. What do you remember most about that victory?
DC: Probably the week-long party afterward. I had my chances before at the Open. That week I controlled my ball flight well. I had struggled the week before with my putting at the Scottish Open. I worked with Bob Rotella and he gave me a couple of little drills to do and I was able to get out of my own way and didn’t get upset by any bad bounce and at the end of the week, I was able to do what I always dreamed of doing.
GW: What’s the coolest thing you got to do with the Claret Jug?
DC: That’s tough to answer because I took it with me all over the world, but if I had to pick one I’d been to Pine Valley many times and I was up for membership and I got in and they had a new member weekend in 2012. I think there were 16 of us. A new member has to speak in front of the full membership and they nominated me as the Open champion to speak on behalf of them. So, I told them about everything I was thinking from the 14th hole on and they all seemed to enjoy it at the time.
GW: What’s the first thing you drank out of it?
DC: I never drank anything out of it. Never. It was a weird sort of respect thing, I guess. I did have lots of drinks sitting beside the Claret Jug, but none from it!
GW: Which talent would you most like to have?
DC: To sing. If you end up in some of the places where I’ve ended up, you know how the Irish are, we do tend to enjoy ourselves a lot. Many of us can get up and play piano and hold a tune but, unfortunately, I can’t.
GW: Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever met?
DC: I was awarded an O.B.E. so I have met the Queen when she handed them out.
GW: What is your most treasured possession?
DC: I have lots of those little Ryder Cup replicas, but probably the Claret Jug replica. It’s in a display case at Royal Portrush clubhouse so all the guests can enjoy it. If I had it at home, it would probably be in a cupboard, so much better there.
GW: What would your champions dinner have been had you won the Masters?
DC: A good-old hearty Irish stew.
GW: What one goal do you hope to accomplish this year?
DC: I want to win. I played not bad but not good enough on the Champions Tour since I turned 50. I’ve been playing during this lockdown every day. The competitor in me is still searching for perfection, but I know I don’t need to be perfect. I want to win so badly that I’m getting in my own way and stopping myself from doing it.
GW: Who is the most underrated player in the game?
DC: I played with Eddie Pepperell when he was coming through the ranks. He’s one of those guys you’re just waiting for him to have even more success. You see so many talented guys. We can all play. It’s just those ones that have a little bit of a spark or they hit it a little bit differently or can handle the adversity and bounce back. You can tell more about a player in tough times than in good times. Bob Torrance used to say to me, it’s not how good your good is, it’s how good your bad is.
GW: What’s the best shot you’ve ever seen hit?
DC: Phil Mickelson at Augusta playing the 11th hole. The flag is front-left and the greens are like concrete, running 14 on the Stimpmeter. Phil pull-hooked his second way right almost onto the downslope of the 12th tee. I’m watching this and thinking there’s no way he can get it on the green and keep his ball from not going in the water (that hugs the left side of the green). He took a full swing with his lob wedge, landed it 2 inches on the green, trickle, trickle, trickle and into the hole. That’s just Phil. I almost bowed in front of him. It was out of this world. I don’t think anyone else on the planet could have hit that shot.
GW: That begs the question: what’s your best shot?
DC: My tee shot on the opening hole of the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club (a little more than a month after his wife had died of breast cancer). I didn’t know if I was going to snap hook it, duff it, top it, miss it, block it and I managed to make a decent swing and hit it 320 yards down the middle.