Irish Open Golf Darren Clarke

Darren Clarke at one time in his career looked like making it right the way to the very top. His victory over Tiger Woods in the 2003 WGC-NEC Invitational could have launched him into one of the best ever Irish Golfers. He has been one of Europe's leading lights in the Ryder Cup having played in the last five with his highlight coming in the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club where he did not lose a match. This was also just after the tragic loss of his wife and he was very much the focal point of the event in Dublin.

In recent times his form has seen him struggle in many of the European Tour events but did manage a win on the Asia circuit in April 2008 and he had some very respectable performances after that. He was in contention here in 2008 until he triple bogeyed the 18th hole in the third round. Unfortunately he failed to recover and finished the Tournamemnt on 2 under par. This was confirmation however of a timely return to form and he should return to the Irish Open again in 2009 for a fresh challenge. Should he do so he would be a major draw for the public and he would be one of those who we would be tipping in the Irish Golf Open betting.

2009 Form

Darren has not been playing at his best so far in 2009 and has seen his world ranking slip to number 88 as of May 3rd. Despite finishing second in the Africa Open at the beginning of the year, Darren has slumped badly and has not had a top 40 finish in any of his other six events played so far this year. Indeed he he has missed three cuts. Nonetheless the Paddy Power bookmakers do not rule him out of this tournament and he has odds of 33/1 in the Irish Open betting odds.

Darren was at the height of his game at the turn of the century where he finished in the top 10 in the European Circuit for over 43 weeks.