Clarke turns to Klopp and stats for Ryder Cup glory
AS A Liverpool season ticket holder, it is not surprising Darren Clarke has been mightily impressed by how Jurgen Klopp has transformed the atmosphere at Anfield and fostered an obvious team spirit.
But even with his red-tinted spectacles off and his Ryder Cup captain’s hat on, Clarke finds himself in awe of the German.
Once Klopp has finished trying to win his first Liverpool trophy in Basle tomorrow night, Clarke plans to approach him for advice that might help when he leads his own team out in September.
Clarke hasn’t a clue whether Klopp is a golfer but, after being actively involved in the Ryder Cup for 20 years, the Northern Irishman is fully aware how important team bonding can be.
‘I’ve already talked to the likes of Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson and I hope the latter will join us later in the year because he was a real inspiration in the team room at Gleneagles last time,’ said Clarke. ‘I would like to talk to Sir Clive Woodward as well because I’m sure he would have a lot to offer.
‘But Jurgen is definitely someone else I will approach. He’s an absolute livewire, isn’t he? He’s a bundle of energy and that can be infectious. He’s a terrific motivator, so I want to pick his brains.’
Team spirit has become something of a theme for Clarke. A good rugby player as a teenager, he borrowed a term from the Irish union team in Florida last week when he met up with prospective members of his side and told them he wanted them to stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’.
Sergio Garcia looked puzzled. ‘What’s shoulder to shoulder?’ asked the Spaniard, clearly unfamiliar with rugby terminology.
In between the meetings with players last Tuesday and Thursday, Clarke, 47, hosted a media gathering and was in fine form.
He has become something of a statistical nut, feeding off a wealth of information provided by a company called The 15th Club, who helped Danny Willett during the Masters.
Clarke knows everything about each player, from how good they are at escaping bunkers to how they handle high-stress situations.
He showed us an app which details the likelihood in percentage terms of each player making the team, given their stats to this point. Perhaps you do not need figures to know Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Willett can be measured up for their uniforms right now. But it was interesting to see one rookie, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, has a 73 per cent chance of making it while another, Matt Fitzpatrick, has almost reached that number.
‘I think I know everything there is to know about each of them, and the stats are going to be an invaluable help when it comes to pairings in fourballs and foursomes,’ explained Clarke.
Something else he knows is that two of the heroes of recent victories — Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter — are really going to have to pull their fingers out to make the team, while he flagged up another name many have forgotten.
‘I think Luke Donald is playing arguably the best of those experienced players right now, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on him,’ he said.
It has been a good couple of months for Clarke, with the fine performances of so many Europeans at Augusta, not to mention the present tribulations of the American No 1 Jordan Spieth and his Ryder Cup team-mate Rickie Fowler.
Who knows how the summer will pan out but one thing’s for sure: if Europe fall short in their quest for a fourth successive victory, it will not be because the captain left a stone unturned.