Clarke Decides on Celtic Manor

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Darren Clarke is among the late entries for the ISPS Handa Wales Open at Celtic Manor next week. 

Clarke, who won his first Major Championship at Royal St George’s in 2011, tees up in Wales alongside a host of other Ryder Cup stars including Miguel Angel Jiménez, Francesco Molinari, Ross Fisher and José Maria Olazabal. 

The popular Northern Irishman was a vice-captain to Colin Montgomerie in Europe’s thrilling Ryder Cup victory at Celtic Manor in 2010 after making five appearances in the contest as a player. The first man after Tiger Woods to win two World Golf Championship events, Clarke has claimed 14 European Tour titles in all, and was also a vice-captain to José María Olazábal in The 2012 Ryder Cup.

Other European Tour champions entered for the ISPS Handa Wales Open from August 29-September 1 include Denmark’s Thomas Björn and Thorbjørn Olesen, Spanish quartet Alvaro Quiros, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Pablo Larrazábal, Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and Englishmen Chris Wood, David Howell and Simon Dyson. 

Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee defends the ISPS Handa Wales Open title he won in testing conditions last year to claim his first victory on European soil. Also part of a truly international field are Finland’s Mikko Ilonen, Australian Brett Rumford, Austrian Bernd Weisberger, Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin, Dutchman Joost Luiten, American Peter Uihlein and South Africa’s Darren Fichardt. 

The tournament marks the start of the points race for qualification for The 2014 Ryder Cup at The Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland, and European Captain Paul McGinley, himself a former champion at Celtic Manor, will be keeping a close eye on all the hopefuls teeing off their campaigns. 

Celtic Manor Resort Chief Executive Dylan Matthews said: “It’s always a real pleasure to welcome back so many star players of The European Tour. 

“The ISPS Handa Wales Open has grown into one of the premier events on The European Tour International Schedule and is also a highlight of the Welsh sporting summer. 

“This tournament is a fantastic opportunity for golf fans to see some of the world’s best players up close and enjoy a great value family day out.” 

With a prize fund of £1.8m, the ISPS Handa Wales Open is now in its 14th consecutive year at Celtic Manor.

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Gleneagle Eye for McGinley

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Paul McGinley will be keeping a close eye on both the course and the players who perform well on it this week, as the European Tour visits Gleneagles for the last time before next year's Ryder Cup.

European captain McGinley will play in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles this week, with his two opening rounds alongside Shane Lowry and Danny Willett - who will both be keen to make an impression.

McGinley has an unenviable task in some ways as he tries to follow the amazing events of both Celtic Manor and Medinah and retain Europe's stranglehold on the tournament.

Part of the process for McGinley is studying how to set the course up, as home captain, and also on how certain players play on the track, so it will be a big week for him in Scotland as he will have plenty of information to collect.

McGinley will play the PGA Centenary course himself this week, but will also have a close eye on who performs well on the lay-out as he picks up clues for his possible wild card selections - plenty of whom may just have a quite word with the skipper.

Course form

"I'll be more impressed with how they (players) play than what they say," said McGinley. "But of course I'll be watching.

"I'm a great believer in horses for course and I'm a great believer in history around a gold course and it's no coincidence that some guys play well on a certain golf course and better than others.

"Of course I'll be watching everybody that plays well, like I will have done in terms of who has played well here over the last nine or ten years that we've played here when it comes to making the three picks next year."

McGinley has taken a good few decent looks at the course, but playing it will give him a better appreciation of how he would like it to be set-up ahead of the Ryder Cup.

"I think it's a good learning curve for me to have another round around here," he added.

"The course is improving all the time - the sub air system is in now in the greens so they are starting to get a little bit firmer than they were in the past, so it's a great chance for me to get an idea of course set-up."

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