Q. Terrific start today. You finished with that eagle finish on 18. What are you most pleased with, the way you managed the par-5s or how you stayed --
DARREN CLARKE: You know, I had a couple of mistakes, a couple bogeys. It's obviously nice to shoot 7-under with two bogeys on the card. I just kept going, like in Hawai'i. I made the move to a LAB sweeper, a long putter, and first week I used it was Hawai'i, and obviously then down in the Bahamas at the Abaco Club working away with it, and just working really hard with it. Then today I rolled in some nice putts again to get to 7-under. That was the most pleasing part.
Q. When looking at Tiburón as a course, what do you see as the most difficult part to it?
DARREN CLARKE: All of it. I stood on the 18th green, I think it was three years ago, I said, I'm never coming back to this place. Just the golf course does not fit my eye. Then my caddie Keith Nolan talked me into coming back here. I had a chance to win, finishing third, I think. Then he said, do you want to come back this year. Maybe I'm starting to like it a little bit.
Q. You've used this putter LAB since Hawai'i, you said, center shaft, zero torque, designed by Adam Scott; what do you think about this?
DARREN CLARKE: I don't know. I played obviously with Thomas Björn out here on the Champions Tour now. I see how well Thomas putts, Bernhard, Vijay, all the guys. I got help from Thomas. He spent some time with me on the putting green in Hawai'i, showing me some of the technique and what you should be doing.
When I've played with guys that use the long putter before, I watch them and their ball rolls really well. I thought, well, I didn't move to the long putter because I had the yips or anything. I just moved because I thought it was a better roll on the golf ball.
It's only one tournament and one round. It could go flying through the air at some stage, but at the moment it's behaving itself.
But it's exciting to be able to stand there and hole a couple of putts because I haven't done that for a few years, so it's nice.
Q. How many putters would you have at home in the shed in the Bahamas?
DARREN CLARKE: In the Bahamas not that many. Only about 20. In Portrush there's a considerable amount more.
Q. Has that been a sort of lesser strength of your game, the putter, in recent years?
DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, you know, putting is fickle. Golf is fickle. That's the way it is. Sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn't. The thing is I've worked really hard since I got on the Champions Tour. I still work as hard as I ever did. I work on my stroke, everything, pictures, numbers, all the machines look really good. Just haven't made anything. I just thought it was time to try something different, and hopefully it keeps on working.
Q. It's only one round, but a good start in the new year; are you taking time to get going?
DARREN CLARKE: No, since we finished last year, I've been down in the Bahamas at home, down in Abaco there, and just working. I can't leave it alone. I'm obsessed. I can't leave it alone.
Played not bad in Hawai'i. Bad first round, didn't hit it great. Then played nicely the second two rounds. Then come out here and shoot 7-under with two bogeys.
Q. Quickly, the details of the eagle?
DARREN CLARKE: Which one? The one on 15, I hit driver, 3-iron from 237 to 12 feet and holed it for eagle. Then the last one I hit driver, 3-wood. The 3-wood was from 241 or something straight into the wind. Hit it to 15 feet behind the hole. So they were both pretty good. Take those any day.
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