By Phil Casey, PA Sport, Augusta

Darren Clarke blew his chance to learn from the Master after sleeping-in and missing a scheduled practice round with Tiger Woods.

Clarke was meant to join defending champion Woods and 1998 winner Mark O'Meara on their traditional dawn practice round at Augusta yesterday - the first chance to play the course after Monday's play was washed out.

But the Ulsterman overslept by a couple of hours and instead settled for nine holes of practice with Padraig Harrington and American Billy Mayfair, starting on the 10th hole and including the famous Amen Corner.

"I went to bed at 8.30pm and didn't wake up until 6.30am, which was good and bad," explained Clarke. "Getting your rest in a week like this is not a bad thing but obviously I would have liked to have played a practice round with Tiger."

Alarm clock and weather permitting, Clarke was due to play with Players Championship winner Davis Love, former Masters champion Fred Couples and former Open champion David Duval today.

All four are clients of psychologist Dr Bob Rotella, and the round will give him a chance to work with each of the players in turn as they play the course.

Rotella's most famous book is 'Golf is not a game of perfect,' and his underlying message urges players to stay in the present, quickly forgetting bad shots and focusing on the next shot ahead.

Clarke feels he is benefiting hugely from working with Rotella and also committing himself to coach Butch Harmon. He also split from long-term caddie Billy Foster earlier this year and now has Ryder Cup team-mate Paul McGinley's former caddie JP Fitzgerald on the bag.

"The changes I made at the beginning of the year have all been productive," added a relaxed Clarke. "My game has been pretty good nearly all year.

"Taking putts quicker frees me up and I'm not worried about striking the perfect putt all the time. At other majors I've spent six to seven hours on the practice range at a time, which has probably been to my detriment.

"Hopefully I'll continue with the way I've been striking the ball and hopefully I'll have a good chance."

Clarke has been in good form already this year in America, finishing 10th in the Nissan Open, reaching the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay and finishing sixth in the Players Championship at Sawgrass.

But ironically, on a course renowned for being difficult to conquer on a first attempt, his eighth place at Augusta on his Masters debut in 1998 remains his best result to date.

A first-round 70 last year had him in the top 10 after the opening day, but he failed to break par after that and had to settle for a tie for 20th.

Harrington is another client of Rotella and has been in similarly good form as Clarke in the early part of the season.

The Dubliner also reached the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay, finished second in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and was runner-up for the 18th time in his career at the Players, denied the chance of victory by Love's superb last-round 64.

However, Harrington missed the cut in last week's BellSouth Classic when fatigue caught up with him, and maybe it was he and not Clarke who needed a lie-in.

"I played twice as well at the BellSouth as I did at the Players' but I was really tired," Harrington explained. "The first day was okay but my focus went a bit late in the round, and the second day it wasn't there at all.

"The TPC took its toll because I was leading from day one but also because of the way I played. When you are hitting fairways and greens it's all quite simple, but the way I was playing at the TPC can take it out of you."