Courtesy: BBC Sport

The U.S.Open will not have Ulsterman Darren Clarke in the field this year.

The much liked and highly regarded golfer from Northern Ireland failed to qualify for the championship at Oakmont in just over a week.

Clarke was playing at Walton Heath, a course designed by Herbert Fowler in 1903. Walton Heath is about 20 miles south of London.

Unfortunately for Clarke, it might as well have been in Outer Mongolia.

Under the format, players play 36 holes (Sean O'Hair, among others, is doing the same thing today in America) but Clarke's scores of 75 and 72 were not good enough.

It's the first time since 1995 that Clarke had to play a qualifying event for any major but he said afterwards that his game wasn't good enough to compete in the U.S. Open so not making it was probably just as well.

Clarke has not made the halfway cut in anything since February and to make matters worse, pulled a hamstring playing football (soccer, if you're from North America) with his two sons.

So, injured and slumping, Clarke goes missing from the second major of the year at Oakmont.

And the field will be a little more reserved without the Irishman's sense of humor and ever-present cigar.

Nine spots were available for European qualifiers at Walton Head today.

You can find the list of those who made it at this link.
At the opposite end of the personality pendulum is Colin Montgomerie. Monty, often referred to as the "dour Scot", says he's looking forward to competing at Oakmont this year.

Last year, Monty had his first major title in his sites at Winged Foot but a double bogey on the 18th hole and final hole of the championship left him in second place, a loser by a single stroke to Australia's Geoff Ogilvie.

However, Monty says his game is in fine form and that was demonstrated by a scintillating 63 on Sunday in the final round of the Celtic manor Wales Open.

So, the European contingent should offer another strong challenge at the season's second major championship. But Oakmont is very tough by all reports coming from the pros who have played practice rounds there in the last couple of weeks.

Just as goaltending wins Stanley Cups in hockey, so, too, long, straight tee shots and dart-like approach shots win USGA-toughened U.S. Opens.

That's why you-know-who Woods is still the odds-on favorite.