Clarke hoping to take the Honda route to Augusta

TOUR NEWS:THIS IS one time Darren Clarke can slip in under the radar. At a time when a younger, slimmer Ulsterman – in the shape of Rory McIlroy – is hogging the limelight, Clarke returns to tournament action at this week's Honda Classic on the US Tour with a mission of his own: to try to claim a late invitation to the field for next month's US Masters at Augusta National.

Indeed, the fact that Clarke cannot yet include a date in his diary for the season’s first major in Augusta is an indication of how the guard has changed.

McIlroy, confirmed at 16th in the latest world rankings after reaching the quarter-finals in the Accenture Matchplay, and Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa – who has received a special invite from the Masters committee, making him the second youngest competitor in Masters history at 17 years six months and 23 days when the first round starts on April 9th – can almost smell the azaleas. Clarke, however, must impact hugely over the coming weeks if he is to force a way into the field.

There are two ways to do it: he can win a tournament on the US Tour, or he can play his way into the world’s top-50 on the week before the Masters.

As he admitted, “I know I have to pull something pretty special out of the hat if I am to catch the eye of Augusta National, but it won’t be for the lack of trying if I’m not to be on the grid for the first major championship of the year.”

Clarke has chosen this week’s Honda Classic as the springboard for a late charge to get into the Masters, which already has three confirmed Irish representatives: Pádraig Harrington, who will be bidding for a third major win in a row; McIlroy, who will be making his debut; and Graeme McDowell who will resume tournament action at next week’s WGC-CA Championship after admitting to feeling “under the weather” in making a first-round exit in last week’s matchplay.

Interestingly, this will be Clarke’s maiden appearance in the Honda Classic’s annual stop-off at PGA national in Palm Beach Gardens in Florida, although it is a course that has served his ISM stablemate Ernie Els well.

Els is the defending champion, in a field that also includes Luke Donald who suffered a recurrence of his wrist injury in Tucson last week, but has recovered quickly after intensive treatment. Donald’s 64 in last year’s first round set a course record.

Clarke’s stint stateside will also see him play in the WGC-CA Championship next week in Doral as he bids to climb up the rankings into that all-important top-50 place in the world.

McDowell has decided against including the Honda on his schedule, instead opting to return to tournament play at next week’s CA Championship – where matchplay winner Geoff Ogilvy is the defending champion – as, like McIlroy, he fine-tunes his game stateside in the run-up to the Masters.

McDowell’s plan is to play the CA championship, the “in house” Tavistock Cup in Orlando, which pitches residents of Isleworth against Lake Nona and to finish off at the Bay Hill Invitational before taking the week before the Masters off.

Likewise, Harrington – down one place to fifth in the latest world rankings – will return to tournament play in next week’s CA Championship, although in his case, the decision to include the tournament on his schedule was forced on him by a recent poor run of form which has seen him miss the cut in Los Angeles and Pebble Beach and lose in the first round of the matchplay to Pat Perez.

Originally, Harrington had scheduled a three-week break before planning to return at Bay Hill a fortnight before Augusta, but he has now confirmed that he will be in the field at Doral.

Tiger Woods is also expected to be there, but has yet to confirm.

With no scheduled tournament on the European Tour this week, regular tour players have something of an early-season break in their schedules with no event until the Madeira Island Open in a fortnight’s time.