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Darren Clarke: A golfer - and a man - on the mend

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Bill Elliott is convinced he will be winning shekels on the Ulsterman some time soon

I bumped into a friend of mine this week who also happens to be a close pal of Darren Clarke's. Now, as it happens, Darren has been on my mind since last weekend and not, I have to admit, for a good reason. Fact is my fellow Ulsterman cost me a few shekels after I punted him in India. Shekels? India? Well, you know what I mean.

At the time my money went on he was four under par and playing the back nine of his third round. Somebody must have told him I'd weighed in because Clarke then proceeded to implode in the most dismally dramatic fashion, dropping 19 shots over his last 24 holes. Viewed how you like, this is golf worthy of me, not a man who is a sublimely pure striker of the ball and who has graced five Ryder Cup matches to date.

Well, it turns out that, according to my friend anyway, Clarke was feeling desperately ill. "You should have rung me before you placed the bet, " he said. "Darren was an accident waiting to happen in India because he felt so bad." Yeah, right, there are lots of things I should have done and quite a few I should not but what my instinct tells me is that Clarke is somewhere close to the edge of moving a bit nearer the class golfer he was before his poor wife Heather got breast cancer.

Her death in the high summer of 2006 was a desperately sad thing, not least because two little boys were left without their mum. Clarke, to his credit, has put the lads before anything else since then and, naturally, his golf has suffered as a result of his own bereavement and this commitment as a dad. "If I was filling in an application for a passport right now I'd put down 'father' as my occupation, " he told me movingly last year.

Whether he ever regains his place towards the top table of the grand, old game is open to some serious doubt of course but I remain convinced that it is only a matter of time before he wins on the European Tour. I say Europe because he is now so far down the world rankings that analysts have to rope themselves together before going out to locate him and so regular play in the USA is all but out of the question.

So this week he is in Indonesia where he is - or so I'm told - restored to full health and raring to go. He says it has been a long time since he felt as enthusiastic about playing golf and claims that he is working harder than ever, this time with Skysport's Ewen Murray and mind coach Karl Morris who can take two negatives and turn them into an instant positive.

To be fair, Clarke always has worked with coaches of various kinds. A few years ago I got him to list all the people who worked directly for him and, one way or another, we ended up with a group big enough to form a football team if Darren himself played. Does this do any good? I'm not sure but in the razor-edge world of pro golf anything that gives a player a perceived advantage is a good thing. Even if it is an illusion.

There is, however, no illusion about Clarke's ability. When he is on song and his mind is clear of the demons he is a fabulous player and certainly good enough to win in Europe. It may or may not be this week but I believe it will be sooner rather than later and that eventually I'll get my money back with a bit on top. And, best of all, two young boys back home in Surrey will lead the cheering.

* Clarke is currently trading at [29.0] to win the Indonesian Open.