sport news The Open: Darren Clarke says Rory McIlroy WILL win many more majors

sport news The Open: Darren Clarke says Rory McIlroy WILL win many more majors
sport news The Open: Darren Clarke says Rory McIlroy WILL win many more majors

Two Northern Irishmen were out together at 7am on Wednesday, re-enacting a practice round that 10 years ago proved to be a launch pad for one of them.

The conversation flowed and so did the wisecracks as Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy followed the same routine which, a decade earlier, preceded the former winning The Open at Sandwich.

Clarke will not be winning the title this year, but his younger partner might hope some kind of history repeats itself as he seeks to end his relative drought at the majors.

Darren Clarke has backed Rory McIlroy to add 'many more' majors to his current collection

Darren Clarke has backed Rory McIlroy to add 'many more' majors to his current collection

The older champion, now 52, was inevitably quizzed about when McIlroy, 32, might win again, although it was the third man in their group who really knows his stuff about ending lean runs.

That was Richard Bland, the quiet Englishman who in May won his maiden title on the European Tour at the British Masters — on his 478th start.

Yet, when it comes to winning the biggest events, Clarke is the more qualified to speak. Unsurprisingly, he has faith in his fellow Ulsterman.

‘It’s been a while since he’s won one (US PGA, 2014), but Rory’s unquestionably got the talent to win many more of them,’ said the last champion at Royal St George’s.

The Northern Irishman is in a rut having failed to win a major title since the US PGA in 2014

The Northern Irishman is in a rut having failed to win a major title since the US PGA in 2014

A tweak to his swing has seen McIlroy's form drop heading into The Open at Sandwich

A tweak to his swing has seen McIlroy's form drop heading into The Open at Sandwich

‘It’s just a case of things kicking into place for him. I know he’s working diligently and doing a lot of work with Pete (Cowen, his coach) to try to hit the ball the way he wants to. This week there’s going to be a premium on keeping it on the fairways. That long stuff is really long and thick this week. We’ll see.

‘He’s working really hard. He hit some great shots today, hit a couple of ones maybe he didn’t want to hit but there’s no questioning his talent. I have been frustrated most of my career. If I was him, with his amount of talent, hell yeah I’d be frustrated with not winning tournaments.’

Clarke cuts a different figure these days to the one who triumphed in the rain 10 years ago.

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