The pressure of dealing with all that goes with accepting the European Ryder Cup captaincy has led to Darren Clarke ruling himself out of next week’s U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Clarke, 47 will lead Europe into competition on September 30th at Hazeltine.

But the former Open Champion, who has not tasted victory since being handed the Claret Jug in 2011, has clearly struggled with his game.

Darren Clarke withdraws from next week’s U.S. Open.

And he best finish since being appointed European Team captain in February, 2015, and in his two dozen European Tour events, was T20th a year ago at the BMW International Open in Munich

So much so, since his Royal St. Georges triumph Clarke has yet to enjoy one top-10 European Tour finish in 79 subsequent events.

“I’m currently dedicating all of my time to our preparations for the Ryder Cup and unfortunately the US Open is not the place to be when your game isn’t 100 per cent,” he said in a statement released by his management company, ISM

“I’m very sorry to miss Oakmont but I’m sure it will be a brilliant week. I’ll certainly be watching very closely.”