Send Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie and Gary Murphy out on the town and it’s a fair bet that Lawrie would soon be handed the car keys as the designated driver.

It’s not that the Dubliner is more abstemious than the other two, but he’s simply not a man of extremes.

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Darren Clarke may have to sweat to make the cut after struggling to a one-over-par 73 in the opening round of the Maybank Malaysian Open in steamy Kuala Lumpur.

The Dungannon man was two under par after three holes but dropped five shots to slip to three over before repairing some of the damage with birdies at the final two holes and share 71st place.

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Darren Clarke is set to leave London for good and set up home in his native Northern Ireland.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that the Ryder Cup star will be moving back home this summer, “fuelling speculation he will settle down with his new love, ex-beauty queen Alison Campbell.”

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Padraig Harrington closed with a birdie two and shot a one under 69 at Monterey Peninsula Country Club. Darren Clarke finished with a bogey six in New Delhi after slam dunking his approach to the final hole into the water for a third round 70.

You might think that Harrington would be the happier of the two but his move to nine under par left him nine strokes behind defending champion Dustin Johnson and journeyman Paul Goydos entering the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

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Darren Clarke believes he is close to getting back into the winner’s circle after a second round 66 sent him hurtling up the leaderboard in the weather-delayed Avantha Masters in New Delhi.

The Ulsterman birdied five of his last seven holes in a nine-birdie round to leap into a share of 12th place with Irish Open champion Shane Lowry, who also shot a six under par 66 at the DLF Golf and Country Club.

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Chubby Chandler has seen it all at this stageChubby Chandler has had a fascinating career as a player and agent and while he'd be the first to admit that he has made mistakes along the way, he believes IMG has dropped the ball in the case of Tiger "Eldrick" Woods.

In a detailed interview with Gary Meenaghan in UAE paper The National, Chandler speaks frankly about his relationship with players like Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy's impending foray onto the PGA Tour.

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Darren Clarke wants to ride his magic putting carpet to a Ryder Cup return at Celtic Manor.

The Ulsterman, 41, believes he’s close to rediscovering his touch at last after slaving for six weeks on a special putting mat at his London home.

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Darren Clarke

Darren Clarke failed to hole the putts when it mattered as South African Charl Schwartzel cruised to his second European Tour victory on the trot in the Joburg Open.

Four strokes clear overnight, the 25-year-old followed his one-shot Africa Open win last Sunday with a six-stroke triumph over Clarke and Keith Horne at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington.

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No offence to Johannesburg's Neil Schietekat's 62 but a cracking, eight under par 63 by Darren Clarke in the Joburg Open has got to be good news for European golf.

In 2008 Clarke won twice, didn't qualify automatically for Nick Faldo's Ryder Cup team, didn't get a pick and didn't say a critical word about the captain. In fact, he was brutally honest about a month before Faldo made his choices public. Asked at Oakland Hills if he'd pick himself if her were captain, Clarke said: "Probably not." It was typical Clarke.

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Michael Hoey is Irish golf's human roller coaster. One minute he's soaring high, the next he's hurtling in a death-dive towards the ground. Could 2010 be the year he finally puts his career on some sort of even keel?

Apparently not yet on the evidence of his start in the Africa Open at East London Golf Club in the Eastern Cape, where he birdied three of his last four holes to open with a five under par 68 around the 6,770-yard, par-73 track.

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Getting quickly back into the groove didn’t prove to be a problem for Darren Clarke last year when he shot the lights out and finished second to Retief Goosen in the Africa Open.

But as he embarks on his 20th European Tour season in the now dual-sanctioned Sunshine Tour event, the big Ulsterman is setting off into the unknown in terms of his own game and the sport as a whole.

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Niall Kearney plans to keep his cool when he makes his European Tour debut in this week’s Africa Open.

The Royal Dubliner rookie, 21, knows that getting hot under the collar is not a recipe for success as he swaps ice-bound Ireland for sweltering South Africa.

Determined to enjoy his first taste of the big time Kearney said: “Everyone says it’s really tough to make it on tour but I’m going out with the attitude that this is a year to learn and get experience.

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