Was there an element of surprise involved in that, that someone so young could show such depth of character?
We all know how good a player Rory is; he’s going to be at the top of the world rankings for a long time. It [the Masters] was a tough thing for him to take but to see him turn that round in such a short space of time and actually deliver to win a major Championship was very impressive.
What did the 2006 Irish Open say about Darren Clarke’s true character?
Sure, I think that you can go back to the Irish Open in 2006 to show Darren’s character. He drove it in the rough and there was a delay so therefore he had to come back the following day [to play the shot].
Overnight someone had trampled down the ground where his ball was lying, so therefore he had a much better lie. Now Darren being Darren knew the situation that [without the ground having been trampled down] he’d have had to chip it out sideways and then play his third onto the green.
So, although his lie was improved overnight he hit the shot that he’d have had to hit the day before. That just shows you what kind of a character Darren really is.
Does a player’s character influence the way they play?
I think so. I think character in the game of golf influences exactly how a golfer plays golf. There are lots of different types of players and there are lots of different types of characters within those players; generally you can kind of pick up how someone’s personality and how someone’s character is with the way they deal with certain situations and play certain shots.
