Equity Magazine December 2017

GOLF STORY
FAIR
PLAY
Darren Clarke, aka DC 60, has
built a career beating the best
in the business and is now
grooming the next generation
of professional golfers
By Varun Godinho
Darren Christopher Clarke owes his life to a phone
call. Born in 1968, the year before The Troubles
began, the Ulsterman was briefly working at a bar
called The Inn in the Park in Dungannon before
he began playing golf professionally full-time. One night, he
was setting up when they received a call at 9.30pm warning
everyone to evacuate. By 10pm the bomb, which was hidden
only five feet away from him, went off.
While he owes his life to a stroke of luck, his professional
career has been a fruit of hard labour. He’s had a phenomenally
successful career on the course. The legacy of wining two World
Golf Championships and a major were nearly undone though by
his controversial captaincy of the Ryder Cup team last year. He
chose a couple of rookies to play for Team Europe who was up
against veterans from Team America at Hazeltine. Case in point:
When Phil Mickelson from Team America went pro in 1992,
Matt Fitzpatrick from Team Europe wasn’t even born.
Clarke and I met on the sidelines of the DP World Tour
Championship last month at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in
Dubai, where he put his surprise Ryder Cup selection into
perspective. “I believed in all the rookies over there. They’re
world-class players. Unfortunately, we were up against a
resurgent America. They played very well and probably better
than we did. We got beaten by slightly the better team that
week and sometimes that happens in sport.” After spending
over 37 years on the course, he’s clearly cultivated pragmatism
rather than unbridled emotion when dealing with the highs
and lows of a being a sportsman.
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EQUITY