At 6.35am on Thursday morning Darren Clarke will hit the opening tee shot of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
The opening hole is a 421-yard par 4 also know as Hughies and is playing 21 yards longer than it did for the Open last time it was here in 1951. It requires accuracy to prevent your ball being engulfed by one of two large bunkers lining the fairway.
I chatted to Clarke’s caddie on Wednesday and he believes Clarke will go with driver to get things underway.
What’s in Clarke’s bag?
Clarke chooses to carry all TaylorMade clubs even though he isn’t an official staff player. At the top of the bag he chooses to carry the TaylorMade M6 model in both his driver and fairway wood.
Over the last few practice days Clarke has been testing the new TaylorMade P790 UDI in a 2-iron. When I spoke to his caddie they were still deciding if the 2- or 3-iron would come out of the bag for Thursday’s first round.
Currently from 3-iron down to pitching wedges Clarke carries the TaylorMade P760 irons.
Clarke carries three wedges all in the TaylorMade Hi-Toe model he has these in 50, 54 and 58 degrees.
He rounds his bag out with the TaylorMade Spider X Copper putter.
Darren Clarke WITB 2019
Driver: TaylorMade M6, (8°), Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana DF 70TX
Fairway: TaylorMade M6 (14°), Mitsubishi Rayon Diamana DF 80TX
Driving iron: TaylorMade P790 UDI (2-iron), Accra Tour 110i
Irons: TaylorMade P760 (3-W), Nippon N.S Pro Prototype
Wedges: TaylorMade Hi-Toe (50°, 54°, 58°), Nippon N.S Pro Prototype
Putter: TaylorMade Spider X Copper
For more information go to the TaylorMade website.
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