FORMER winner Ian Woosnam is hopeful a back injury will not seriously affect him in the US Masters.

The Welshman has been having treatment this week for a problem he believes he aggravated while fishing recently, but after coming off the course on Tuesday he played nine holes yesterday afternoon.

That was it for the day, though, as Woosnam opted out of the par three competition. Meanwhile, Darren Clarke knows what he can be like. He does not need anybody else to remind him.

"I'm like someone who built a fire, but forgot to put a chimney in," says the Ulsterman on his own website, "I need a way to let the smoke out or I get frustrated." Every attempt will be made by Clarke, though, not to blow his top during the four days of the Masters, starting today.

Nor, indeed, to get too excited should the temptation arise. Seventy-two holes round Augusta National is every bit as much of a marathon as the one being run on the streets of London on Sunday.

With his last tournament being his second place finish in the Houston Open two weeks ago, Clarke approaches the first Major of the season with eager anticipation.

He had a long wait to get going this afternoon, though. With world number two Phil Mickelson and Argentina's Angel Cabrera, players who both led last year before being overtaken by Tiger Woods, Clarke was not teeing off until the third-last group of the day. "Houston was huge for my morale," added the 33-year-old world number 11.

"I had been working hard, but had not had a good result all year, so it was great to get some reward at last."

Rather than staying in America, Clarke flew home to see children Tyrone and Conor and, of course, wife Heather, who recently underwent breast cancer surgery.

Not that he switched off from golf totally. The Queenwood club in Surrey kindly speeded up their greens specifically for the Ryder Cup star.