I had a feeling Darren would win

Michael Finnigan reveals how he helped Darren Clarke lift the Claret Jug

When Darren Clarke arrived at Royal St George’s for last year’s Open, he was a 150/1 outsider with the bookies. In the eyes of one man, however, he was a clear favourite.

Michael Finnigan, right, a prominent sports psychologist, started working with Clarke for the second time in April of this year after a decade-long hiatus, and together with another ‘mind guru’, Dr Bob Rotella, got the Northern Irishman mentally conditioned to win his long-awaited first major at the age of 42.

And, though the win stunned the golfing world, Finnigan admits that he was not in the least bit surprised by Clarke’s success. “I had an inkling Darren was in for a good week,” he said. “I even told my daughter to stick £10 on him!”

Sound advice. But, then again, Finnigan has become accustomed to dishing out just that since he founded his consultancy business, i2i, in 1992.

Since then, he has worked with some of the biggest names in sport but, oddly, it took improving the fortunes of a snooker star for him to get into golf.

“Working with Darren all came about, primarily, because of Jimmy White,” explained Finnigan. “I worked with Jimmy back in the mid-1990s when he was down on his luck and, soon after we teamed-up, he returned to form, beating Stephen Hendry in the world championships.

“Shortly after that, Chubby called me up and said: ‘Do you fancy taking a look at my lads?'”

Chubby’s ‘lads’ included the likes of England cricketer Andrew Flintoff and golfers Lee Westwood and Paul McGinley. However, it was Clarke who really caught Finnigan’s attention – and vice-versa.

“Darren seemed really into what I was doing right from the start,” he explained. “He’s a deep thinker, a very eloquent, articulate guy. We really hit it off.”

After some initial success, however, the pair stopped working together shortly after the turn of the millennium. “Our fees were, admittedly, too high,” said Finnigan. Even so, Finnigan kept in regular contact with Chubby Chandler and, during one of their catch-up calls this year, the prospect of working with Clarke again came up.

Before he knew it, Finnigan was on his way to Portrush where he spent a day with the Ryder Cup star shortly after he’d finished second last in an event in Morocco. No surprise, he wasn’t happy.

“When I last worked with Darren he was a young man who was world No.7 and beating the best players in the game. But that day in Portrush, he was full of stress, anger, frustration, bitterness.

“To be honest, I was really surprised at how he was. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d seen him at low ebbs before. When we first worked together, he’d get into a state and say, ‘That’s it, I’ve had enough, I’m sick of it, I’m giving it up’ and all that. But this was different. He wasn’t in a good place. Still, I knew I could help and, within just seven or eight hours, I could see him starting to respond.”

Just a few weeks later, Clarke won the Iberdrola Open, his first European Tour title in almost three years and a win which laid the foundations for his Open success just weeks later, where again Finnigan had an important role to play.

“There were really two strands to what I did with Darren that week,” he said. “I had what I call ‘focus, one-on-one time’ with him on the Wednesday just reminding Darren of all the mental routines to go through and all the stuff we’ve worked on. Then I spoke to him before and after each round, just going over the preparation for the day and what went right, what went wrong, that kind of thing.

“I was in touch with Chubby and Darren’s caddie John Mulrooney, too, to make sure that they helped me as well.

“Basically, my job is to skill people up with what I know and then get them to put it into action for themselves.”

It clearly works. Interestingly, in the dissection of Clarke’s Open triumph, it came out that, amongst the many things that had driven him to win, five initials that he and Finnigan came up with played an especially important role. They were ‘PTAFW’: Prove Them All F***ing Wrong.

“That came from a particularly emotional and direct session,” explained Finnigan. “I think I just said to him, ‘Look, Darren. What are we doing this for? You’ve got a great life, two fantastic boys, you don’t need to put yourself through all this, so why do you?’ He just looked at me with these really steely eyes and through gritted teeth said, ‘To prove them all f***ing wrong’. It just kind of stuck after that and I’d sign-off all my notes or text messages to him with those initials.”

Now that he has proven ‘them’ all, ahem, wrong, what’s next for Clarke? Finnigan has a theory.

He said: “Winning a major can be a bit like getting to the end of the rainbow. Once you’ve done it, it’s like, ‘Okay, what now?’ Well, win another, surely? I’ve not had a one-on-one session with Darren since he won the Open but I’ve spoken with Chubby and he assures me that the win hasn’t sated his hunger for success in any way. I actually sent Darren a text in the days after his win which said: ‘Well done, mate. Nothing else to prove.’ The fact that he didn’t reply tells me he still has the desire to keep going.”

THIS INTERVIEW FIRST APPEARED IN ISSUE 111 OF BUNKERED

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered