DARREN CLARKE

This is shamefully my first post for quite some time. However, I was moved by a recent incident to ensure that I wrote about it before too much time had passed.

In this world of megabucks sports stars it's not often one can find someone that could be described as a SPIRITUAL WEIGHTLIFTER. However, golfer darren Clarke qualifies as a result of something exceptional and special that he did last weekend.

Now let me say at the outset that I am a great fan of golf but have never considered darren to be a favourite of mine. For one thing I have found his cigar smoking attitude a little too arrogant for me. But my opinion changed this weekend.

Bagger Vance said it best. People that play sports other than golf "lie, deliberately, to gain selfish advantage". And Darren showed this by making a decison that should stand as an example to others.

When play at Carton House was abandoned because of bad weather on Sunday, Clarke was two shots clear with 10 to play. But just before the hooter sounded, Clarke had pushed his drive at the 9th into the heavy rough.

When he returned to resume his round on Monday, Clarke discovered the County Kildare course's leprechauns had been at work overnight improving his lie. From being faced with a hack back to the fairway on Sunday, he now had a shot at reaching the green in two.

Having asked for a ruling, Clarke was told to thank "the little people" (probably) and play the ball as it lay.

The 37-year-old felt ill at ease about this, however, and opted to play the same sideways chip back to the short stuff he was going to have to play on Sunday.

The result? A bogey-five and the first wobble in a round that would see him bogey two of the last three holes to finish two behind Thomas Bjorn.

As Clarke later explained: "When I went back out the area around the ball had been flattened. It was a much better lie than when I left it.

"I could have put it on to the front of the green from where it was, but my conscience would not allow me to do it so I just decided the best thing to do was chip out like I would have done the previous night.

"Honesty is part and parcel of the game and I could not have acted any other way."

Well done Darren - you are a true SPIRITUAL WEIGHTLIFTER.