Clarke's feel-good factor

Tour news: Rather than feel any recriminations about just missing out on a play-off in the weather-hit Nissan Open, Darren Clarke could yesterday take more positive vibes with him on his trip down the California coast to La Costa for tomorrow's start to the WGC-Accenture Matchplay championship.

Of the 64 players in the field, only Tiger Woods has a better record there, and Clarke admitted: "It's a good course for me, I save my shots around there."

In fact, Clarke, who, unfortunately from an Irish perspective, will meet Graeme McDowell in the first round, has won 14 of 18 matches at La Costa, including the Accenture final in 2000.

Woods, the defending champion, has won 20 of 23 matches.

Certainly, the past fortnight on the US Tour has been good for Clarke with a tied-sixth finish in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and a tied-third in the Nissan Open in Los Angeles.

Ernie Els, the world's number three, is the only player eligible to have opted out, and Shingo Katayama, ranked 65th in the world, is drafted in. The Japanese player will meet world number one Vijay Singh in the first round of a tournament that has seen its prize money increase to $7.5 million, a jump of $500,000 from a year ago, with $1.3 million going to the winner.

For Clarke, the feel-good factor of the past two weeks could extend into a matchplay format on a course that has been kind to him. Clarke was especially pleased with the state of his short game, which is vital in man-to-man combat.

"I'm working on the right things, the short game is pretty sharp," he declared. "You can get away with a lot of other mistakes and that's what I'm able to do at the moment.

"I don't know if it's as good as it's ever been, (but) it's better (than it was). I'm not wasting as many shots. I'm chipping to three or four feet as opposed to chipping it to six or seven feet. And you are going to make more three- or four-footers than six- or seven-footers, and my feel is a little better."

Of the three Irish players in the elite field, only McDowell is making his debut, one of 10 competitors to be doing so. Clarke's record at La Costa is far superior to that of Padraig Harrington's, the seventh seed. Clarke was a first round loser in 1999 and 2002, but won in 2000, reached the quarter-final in 2003 and, after losing in the semi-final a year ago, beat Stephen Leaney in the third-fourth play-off.

Harrington, meanwhile, was a first round loser in 2000 and 2002, lost in the second round in 2003 and achieved his best result by reaching the quarter-final last year. Harrington is due to meet Jeff Maggert in the first round.

Yet Woods has the best history on this course. With his 3 and 2 win over Davis Love in last year's final, Woods extended his record consecutive-wins streak in the Accenture to 12.

Last year, Woods became the first player to reach the finals of the championship three times, having lost to Clarke in 2000. His all-time record at the event now stands at 20-3, including winning the last two finals.

Indeed, Woods has dominated the WGC events, with eight victories in 16 starts, having won at least one tournament each year since the series started in 1999. Clarke is the only other multiple winner, having won the 2000 and the 2003 NEC Invitational.

The draw for the matchplay sees the top four seeds head quarters which are named after famous players: Singh is the top seed in the Bobby Jones quarter, Woods the top seed in the Gary Player quarter, Phil Mickelson the top seed in the Sam Snead quarter, and Retief Goosen the top seed in the Ben Hogan quarter.

All matches up to and including the semi-final phase are played over 18 holes, with the final over 36 holes.

Meanwhile, Jose Maria Olazabal has denied suggestions that he is looking for the captain's job for the Ryder Cup match at the K Club next year. "I don't know where that story came from," said the Spaniard.

The European Tour's players' committee meets in Dubai next week to decide who will succeed Bernhard Langer as captain. Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle have all declared an interest in the position.

Christy O'Connor Jnr was one of a number of Irishmen, including Des Smyth and Eamonn Darcy, who applied for the captaincy, but any chance of a home captain has long been ruled out.

However, O'Connor was yesterday announced as "a Ryder Cup ambassador" by AIB, one of the partners in Ireland Inc's bid to bring the event here. O'Connor will work on a broad-based programme of initiatives in the build-up to the match in September 2006.

Meanwhile, a friendship that was first struck up on the links at Waterville when Rocco Mediate used it to acclimatise for the British Open by playing Ireland's top courses has resulted in former Irish amateur Mark Murphy, who last year turned professional but who is without a tour card, being asked to caddie for the American.

Murphy, who is expected to stay on as caddie at least until April, when he is expected to pursue his own fledgling professional career, was on Mediate's bag at the Nissan Open where the player finished in tied-13th place.

Mediate, now 42, last season battled back problems to finish outside the top-125 on the US money list for the fourth time in two decades as a professional. He has been plagued by back problems and missed most of the 1994 season with a ruptured disc and had to play on a medical exemption the following year.