Clarke - refreshed from holiday.

The improving health of his wife Heather has given Darren Clarke a real lift going into the final major of the season.

But the Ulsterman also admits he needs to remove some rust from his game before he tees off at Baltusrol in New Jersey on Thursday.

"At the minute she's doing great," said Clarke. "The whole family have just spent two weeks down in San Diego and Barbados.

"We have been lying on the beach not doing an awful lot, so I am certainly very relaxed coming into this week, to say the least."

Golf has inevitably taken more of a back seat since the Ryder Cup star's wife was diagnosed with cancer for the second time.

That was last November and in addition to chemotherapy, Heather was taken to hospital in May when one of the drugs she was taking led to heart problems.

"She is almost back to full health again and things are good at the moment, which certainly makes it a lot easier for me to come back out and try and play - although I think I am a little bit still too relaxed from the last couple of weeks.

"Our holiday has been very, very important to us. She was critically ill eight weeks ago. Very, very ill, so to get away was fantastic."

It also helped Clarke put the disappointment of the Open at St Andrews behind him.

He finished 15th and states: "I was very frustrated. I played well enough to finish very high up in the tournament, but I didn't do that and I had no interest in touching a golf course until now.

"I wanted to get away somewhere. I did play a little bit of golf in Barbados, but from a competitive point of view I am probably rusty. But so be it.

"My putting was very poor, very poor. I got here on Saturday evening and I have been working away on it.

"I have had a couple of good tips from Thomas Bjorn that I have been working on at the moment. It feels better at the moment, so we will see when the tournament starts."

Having a beach holiday has at least enabled Clarke to avoid joining the list of European injury worries.

Colin Montgomerie, David Howell and Stephen Gallacher all pulled out of last week's Johnnie Walker Championship, while Ian Poulter hurt himself practising.

"I was practising with a training aid which (David) Leadbetter uses," explained Poulter.

"It's like an enormous rubber band. You hold it around your knees and it keeps your knees from moving in.

"My legs were getting a little bit too wide, so I was using it to hold my legs closer together and just sort of had a strain at the top of my thigh.

"It seemed to be pretty painful for sort of two or three days. I tore some ligaments I think and it set me back a couple of days, but things have got better over the last couple of days and the swing is looking good. I won't be doing it again this week."

He was another to leave the Open in none too happy mood.

Eleventh place was his highest finish in a major, but he said: "I walked off the last green absolutely devastated.

"I played the front nine very poorly that week. I think I dropped at least six, seven or eight shots. After finishing fourth the week before at Loch Lomond I thought it was a great chance for me to go on and give Tiger a run for his money and unfortunately that did not happen.

"I want to be in contention, because I know when I am in contention, I am going to take it down to the wire."

He is all too aware that no European has won a major since Paul Lawrie at the 1999 Open, but adds: "I think there will be a strong European presence this week on the leaderboard.

"You have just got to look at guys who have been playing well of late - Luke Donald, Darren Clarke.

"I think you are going to see more and more European guys being in contention to win one of these majors.

"There will be a European winner at some stage and put that question to bed. It comes up at every major and it is obviously going to come up at every major until it happens.

"I am pretty confident that I can go out there and if I play good for the four days, then I am going to win this golf tournament.

"That is all I am worried about right now and that is all I am going to be concentrating on.

"If I practise right the next three days and give myself a decent chance, then I am going to try and take it."