Darren Clarke is targeting a senior major after his latest Champions Tour win and believes he could contend in this year’s Open at Royal St George’s.
The Northern Irishman won in Hawaii last weekend after taking his first victory on the over-50s circuit in his previous tournament in November.
“Another notch from there are senior majors and the Senior British would be very special for me,” said Clarke, 52.
This year’s Senior Open will be at Sunningdale, which Clarke knows well.
The week before that, Clarke will compete compete in The Open at the Sandwich course at which he memorably clinched his major title in 2011.
Of course, Clarke’s plans are all Covid-19 permitting and he is waiting to see whether tournament golf will be able to continue as it largely has since the first lockdown – with the notable exceptions of the Open Championship and Senior Open.
When asked whether he could summon up another Open challenge in Kent 10 years on, Clarke joked that he was “sitting on the fence” but also spoke of the value of experience in tackling golf’s original event on links turf.
“Tom Watson did it (competed strongly) a few years ago at Turnberry and if there’s anywhere where experience might come into it, links golf would be one of those scenarios,” the county Tyrone man told BBC Sport Northern Ireland from his winter base in the Bahamas.
“I’m still swinging the club pretty fast. I’m getting up to 173mph ball speed and 121/122mph club head speed which is very comparable to what even the young guys are doing on the main tour so I’m still hitting it far enough.
“And if you get bad weather, you will see possibly some of the older guys like Phil (Mickelson) and Ernie (Els) and maybe even myself, with a little bit of experience, getting right in the mix.
“After that, it’s a good bounce here and good bounce there – we shall see.”
If Clarke maintains the form he has produced in recent months, he will surely go into the Senior Open a week later as one of the favourites.
“It would be very special for me to put that on top of The Open that I won at Royal St George’s and I’ve played a lot of golf at Sunningdale.”
Clarke unclear over his next event
After firing a final-round 64 to clinch a two-shot win at last weekend’s Mitsubushi Electric Championship in Hawaii, Clarke is not yet clear when he will be going for his third successive Champions Tour victory.
The next Champions Tour event is in a month’s time in Arizona but Clarke says he may miss that if Covid-19 regulations in the US mean he would have to quarantine for two weeks prior to what would be a one-off tournament for him.
“If it was a case of playing one tournament and having to do a two-week quarantine to go there, I’ll probably give it a miss and maybe stay here for eight weeks and work on getting into the gym and getting stronger and then go and quarantine for two weeks in April and after that we are busy week after week.”
The new Biden administration in the US is expected to announce updated quarantine regulations next week and Clarke will be listening attentively.
The 2011 Open champion attributes his resurgence to the video lessons he has been undertaking with swing coach Shauheen Nakhjavani.
“I’m working as hard as I’ve always worked. I’m sort of obsessed with it and always want to get better.
“My putting was very solid in Hawaii as well. Sometimes that can be a touch like myself – somewhat temperamental.
“I holed a really good putt on 17 to keep my two-shot advantage up the last which always makes it a little bit easier.”
