BOOK REVIEWS
Autobiography
An Open Book: My Autobiography
Darren Clarke
We Rate:
BOOK SYNOPSIS
A golfer loved for his courage and charisma, Darren Clarke has the crowds behind him. They know he is warm, funny raconteur who likes a Guinness, who both works hard and plays hard. More important, they know that this man pulled himself up by his bootstraps, having lost his wife Heather to cancer to triumph at the 2006 Ryder Cup.
Just days before the start of the 2011 Open at Royal St George's, Darren's game had once again deserted him, leaving him putting like a man with blurred vision'. A month before his 43rd birthday he was not in a good place. But Heather was 'watching from above' the crowd were roaring him on, golf guru Dr Bob Rotella was telling him to 'go unconscious' - and something sparked inside him. The rest is golfing history.
Born in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, Darren caddied for his golf course greenkeeper father, turning pro in 1990. He has played in four victorious Ryder Cup sides and beat his close friend Tiger Woods in the 36-hole final of the 2000 WGC-Andersen Consulting Match Play. In 2002, he became the only player to win the English Open three times.
In an open book he speaks candidly about fellow players, coaches and golfing psychologists; about how he was bullied at school, narrowly missed and IRA bomb and eventually set up a foundation to develop junior golf in Ireland; and about how he found personal happiness again, marrying Alison Campbell in April 2012. Most vividly of all, he takes the reader down those rainswept fairways to the ecstasy of that final putt when, at his 20th attempt, he lifted the silver claret jug.
OUR REVIEW
A very poignant tale from one of Britain's much loved golfers, the story of Darren Clarke, the Northern Irish golfer is a really fantastic autobiography that is filled with stories of his career, how he came to be one of Ireland's greatest golfers, how he was able to connect with the general public and how a tragic family life affected him and the golfing world.
Clarke is a golfer that made the most of his talent on the course but his warmth as a golfer by many in the game is what makes him stand out the most. He worked hard at his game but always remembered that it was a game and it was important to have fun.
His early life brought up in a country that always had you looking over your soldier with the troubles in Northern Ireland, how golf was an outlet for him and how he came to be a talisman for Europe in the Ryder Cup, an event we always saw the best of Clarke.
No one will ever forget the emotional scenes at the K Club when just weeks after his wife Heather, died of cancer, he led from the front as Europe won the Ryder Cup, surrounded by his friends. Add in the marvellous Major triumph at the Open at Royal St George that came when nobody expected, this book is a wonderful story of how good things can come out of sad times for a good person.
Settle yourself down with this great story of one of the most well liked golfers over the last 20 years and read his fascinating story from a young age in his homeland, right through to his Major win.
