Darren Clarke praise for Portrush

The Irish Open starts today at Royal Portrush and Darren Clarke, the Open champion, who has played the course since he was a boy, is eager to tee off.

"The Irish Open has always been one of my favourite tournaments and to have it here at Royal Portrush with this amount of people makes me very, very proud," Clarke said. "It's all worked out unbelievably well. The players love it – it's almost got an Open feel, which is what I think the course deserves. I moved up here when I was young, played an awful lot of my golf here. All the players have been full of praise for the course."