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 NEWS 15 / 08 / 06
 

Clarke urges Europeans to play

Paul McGinley
McGinley - withdrew to attend funeral

Though many of them wanted to stay behind to attend his wife Heather's funeral, Darren Clarke has urged Europe's leading pros not to stay away from this week's US PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club, near Chicago.

However, as Clarke's closest family friend, fellow Irishman Paul McGinley will forego his chance of vital Ryder Cup points to stand shoulder to shoulder with Clarke, respresenting their fellow competitors, all of whom are expected again to wear black ribbons at the season's final major as a mark of respect.

After a long battle with breast cancer Heather Clarke died, aged 39 on Sunday, at London's Royal Marsden Hospital, leaving a widower and two children - Tyrone (8) and Connor (5).

As she and Darren would have wanted, it leaves the largest European contingent (48) ever assembled for a US PGA Championship, set to be staged over a course rated one of the longest (7,561 yards) and toughest (a classic par-72) in major history.

Medinah's No.3 course has undergone a restoration project since Tiger Woods won the US PGA here in 1999. Rees Jones has had over 300 trees uprooted, re-designed several bunkers and rebuilt tees and greens, most notably the par-3 17th, which has been returned to its original position beside Lake Kadijah.

Phil Mickelson
Mickelson - defending champion

In an almost made-for-TV ratings boost the first round draw has traditionally and theatrically paired the defending champion (Phill Mickelson) with the US Open champion (Geoff Ogilvy) and the Open winner (Tiger Woods). They tee off from the tenth tee at 8.30 (local time) on Thursday morning and again (from the first tee) at 1.35 on Friday.

Times (Second round in brackets)

First tee: 7.00a.m.(Tenth tee 12.05): Mike Small, Ryan Palmer, Andres Romero

7.10 (12.15): Steve Flesch, Gregory Bisconti, Anders Hansen

7.30 (12.25): Ted Purdy, Jim Kane Charl Schwartzel

7.30 (12:35). Pat Perez, Charles Howell III, Joey Sindelar

7.40 (12:45) Jerry Kelly, Heath Slocum, Padraig Harrington.

7.50 (12.55): Craig Barlow, Mike Weir, Todd Hamilton

8.00 (1.05) Lucas Glover, Robert Allenby, Trevor Immelman

8.10 (1.15): SK Ho, Brett Wetterich, Joser Maria Olazabal

8.20 (1.25) Zach Johnson, Ben Curtis, Peter Lonard

8.30 (1.35) KJ Choi, Rod Pampling, Tim herron

8.40 (1.45) Greg Owen, Tim Weinhart, Gonzalo Fernadez-Castano

8.50 (1.55) Harrison Frazar, Johan Edfors, Ryan Moore

9.00 (2.05): Simon Khan, Sam Arnold, Billy Mayfair

Tenth tee 7:00 (First tee 12:05) Bo Van Pelt, Mark Brown, Dean Wilson

7.10 (12.15): Kenneth Ferrie, John Aber, Hideto Tanihara

7.20 (12.25) Miguel Angel Jimenez, Tim Clark, Tom Pernice Jr

7.30 (12.35): Rich Beem, Steve Elkington, David Toms

7.40 (12.45): Fred Funk, Stewart Cink, Thomas Bjorn

7.50 (12.55): Retief Goosen, Chad Campbell, David Duval

8.00 (1.05): Mark Calcavecchia, Luke Donald, Vaughn Taylor

8.10 (1.15): Michael Campbell, Chris DiMarco, Lee Westwood

8.20 (1.25): JJ Henry, Graeme McDowell, Aaron Baddeley

8.30 (1.35): Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilby, Tiger Woods

8.40 (1.45): John Senden, Nick Dougherty, Scott Verplank

8.50 (1.45) Brad Faxon, Don Yrene, Camilo Villegas

9.00 (2.05): Steve Schneiter, Bradley Dredge, Ben Crane ,

First tee 12.05 (Tenth tee 7.00): Nathan Green, Lee Rinker, Richard S Johnson

12.15 (7.10): Kelly Mitchum, Jesper Parnevik, Brandt Job

12.25p.m. (7.20): Arron Oberholser, Jason Gore, Bart Bryant

12.35 (7.30): Adam Scott, Kenny Perry, Rory Sabbatini

12.45 (7:40): Shaun Micheel, Bob Tway, Davis Love III

12.55 (7.50): Jim Furyk, Angel Cabrera, Shigeki Maruyama

1.05 (8.00): Tom Lehman, David Howell, Robert Gamez

1.15 (8.10): Sergio Garcia, Fred Couples, Ernie Els

1.25 (8.20): Colin Montgomerie, Stuart Appleby, JB Holmes

1.35 (8.30): John Daly, Jeff Sluman, Vijay Singh

1.45 (8.40): Corey Pavin, Bernhard Langer, John Rollins

1.55 (8.50) Steve Lowery, Alan Schulte, Richard Green

2.05 (9.00): Chris Wiemers, Mark Hensby, Steve Stricker

Tenth tee 12.05 (First tee 7.00): Woody Austin, Craig Thomas, Justin Rose.

12.15 (7.10): Stephen Dodd, Chip Sullivan, Jason Bohn

12.25 (7.20): Wes Short, Chris Riley, Henrik Stenson

12.35 (7.30): Larry Nelson, Ron Phil Jr, Wayne Grady

12.45 (7.40): Olin Browne, Daniel Chopra, Sean O'Hair

12.55 (7.50): Paul Casey, Justin Leonard, Niclas Fasth

1.05 (8.00): Jeff Maggert, Robert Karlsson, Kirk Triplett

1.15 (8.10): Dudley Hart, Nick O'Hern, Ian Poulter

1.25 (8.20): Mark Brooks, Paul Azinger, Nick Price

1.35 (8.20): Stephen Ames, Carl Pattersson, Chris Couch

1.45 (8.40): John Bickerton, Brett Quigley, Barry Evans

1.55 (8.50): Jay Haas, Paul Broadhurst, Jerry Haas

2.05 (9.00): Anthony Wall, Jeffrey Cranford, Andrew Buckle


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Salute Darren's day
What winning means to Clarke
My lesson with Darren Clarke
“Try to rotate the hips earlier and slow your swing down,” said Clarke in that familiar Ulster twang.
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