Final Shot with Darren Clarke

What plans do you have regarding playing in the US? Is that high on your list of priorities?

I’m exempt through 2016. But it was a struggle there last year. I played average and my putting was poor. Actually, that’s not really true. I wasn’t hitting the ball close enough to the hole to give myself realistic chances of birdies. My “proximity to the hole” number was very poor. So, while it was easy for me to blame my putting, that wasn’t quite the full story. Plus, I spent a lot of time away from the family last year. I didn’t like that. So I resigned from the PGA Tour at the end of 2014. But I’m eligible to re-join the PGA Tour in 2016. I will probably do that. If I had stayed a member this year and not played the minimum number of events, I would have been banned for 2016 and not able to play at all. So I had to do what I have done.

How competitive are you these days? Are there places where you can’t win? Because of the distances the young lads hit the ball.

No. If you look at my driving stats, I’m still long enough. But yes, there are places where the so-called “bombers” do have too much of an edge. Look at the way guys like Rory (McIlroy) and Henrik (Stenson) play the Earth course during our season-ending event in Dubai. They fly bunkers at 310 yards and have wedges into the greens. I’m back with everyone else hitting mid-irons because I can’t fly my drives over the sand. They have a talent I don’t have.

Do you worry that the distance advantage has become disproportionate because of club and ball technology?

There is that, yes. It is true that players should have no chance just because they can’t hit the ball 300 yards through the air. But not every course is like that. You make a good point though; there are a lot of them these days. And there are fewer courses where a little bit of guile is required to get round well. It’s all “hit it as far as you can then take it from there”. The rewards for course management and strategy and all the rest of it are not what they once were.