Clarke On His New Long-Handled Putter: “It Could Still Go Flying Through The Air At Some Stage”.

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Those who have followed Darren Clarke’s career will know exactly what he’s saying when he jokingly declared his newfound long-handled putter ‘could still go flying through the air at some stage’.

Clarke was speaking after brilliantly grabbing two eagles in ideal scoring conditions to be tied for the lead late on the opening day in the Chubb Championship in Naples, Florida.

Clarke, 57, eagled the 15th and 18th holes in a round of seven-under 65 to lead the way by two shots before being joined well after 4pm local time by Aussie Michael Wright, who posted nine birdies but also a double-bogey in his 65 in the Champions Tour event here at the host Tiburon course.

Clarke’s round also included five birdies and a pair of bogeys, and it continues an impressive start to 2026 for the former Open Champion who produced second and third round scores of 64 and 66 in last month’s season-opener in Hawaii.

Clarke’s eagle at 16 put him well in contention on day one and then into the lead after a super second shot into the par-5 18th thought after a very long wait as playing partner and fellow former European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn sent his second shot well right into virtual no-man’s land.

Bjorn, and with the help of his caddy and a lone marshall, found his ball but there was further time delay as the rules referee sorted out where Bjorn should take his penalty drop shot.

All the time, Clarke and Angel Cabrera, and the third player in the group waited some 70-yards ahead to the left side of the putting surface before Bjorn finally appeared from playing his fourth shot onto the green.

Clarke eventually was able to putt out and did so, bringing a big crowd applauding loudly in holing a 12-footer for an eagle 3 and then revealing post his round a decision to switch to a LAB ‘Sweeper’ putter.

“I had a couple of mistakes, a couple bogeys so obviously nice to shoot 7-under with two bogeys on the card,” he said.

“I just kept going, like in Hawaii, made the move to a LAB sweeper, a long putter, and first week I used it was Hawaii, and obviously then down in the Bahamas at the Abaco Club working away with it, and just working really hard with it. Then today I rolled in some nice putts again to get to 7-under. That was the most pleasing part”.

Clarke had been among the first to arrive on Tuesday for the Friday starting event and was noticeable in spending an enomous amount of time on the practice putting green.

And he spoke of a decision to switch putters heading into a remarkable 36th season in the pro ranks.

“I played obviously with Thomas Björn out here on the Champions Tour and even out there with Thomas this morning,” said Clarke.

“I see how well Thomas putts, Bernhard, Vijay, all the guys. I got help from Thomas. He spent some time with me on the
putting green in Hawai’i, showing me some of the technique and what you should be doing.

“When I’ve played with guys that use the long putter before, I watch them and their ball rolls really well. I thought, well,
I didn’t move to the long putter because I had the yips or anything. I just moved because I thought it was a better roll on the golf ball.

“It’s only one tournament and one round. It could still go flying through the air at some stage, but at the moment it’s behaving itself.

“But it’s exciting to be able to stand there and hole a couple of putts because I haven’t done that for a few years, so it’s
nice”.

Curious?   But how many putters does Clarke have at home in the shed in the Bahamas?

“In the Bahamas not that many. Only about 20. In Portrush there’s a considerable amount more”, he said smiling.

Well played, Darren.

 



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