Tiger Woods, had already found water with his tee shot on that 418-yard hole, Bohereen Road. When Ryder Cup tremors affect even the world number one on that first morning at the K Club, you could only begin to imagine the trial Darren Clarke endured as the professional within him fought to overcome latent emotions fuelled by his home fans.

At this moment, the Ulster man needed to rediscover himself as one of the world's leading golfers, capable of making a crucial contribution to the European cause, after six weeks a grieving husband and much, much longer as a caring partner to his ailing wife Heather.

"Nothing can compare with what I went through on that first tee, " he says. "There will never be a harder shot or hole for me to play."

That recollection is from his published recollections of that moment, Heroes All, in which the rawness at his wife's death from breast cancer in mid-August never causes him to shank into mawkish rough. He adds: "We had gone from deafening roar to cathedral calm. One minute you needed earplugs and the next you could hear a feather land on a pillow. I just stood tall, went through my pre-shot routine, took the club back, and then just absolutely nutted the ball. I killed it down the middle, some 340 yards, to just before the run-out at the end of the fairway."

It has been one of the defining moments in sport in 2006.

That, and the the subsequent birdie 3 on the 1st was the prelude to a one-hole victory over Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco in their fourballs for Clarke and his wild-card partner Lee Westwood; a duo in whom European captain Ian Woosnam rightly, as it transpired, had deposited so much faith.

It was the Ryder Cup when sporting rivalry was a comrade of dignity. Clarke was the catalyst. From the moment Woods, himself bereaved, his father Earl having died earlier this year, had convinced him his place should be at the K Club.

When Amy Mickelson had linked arms with him and her husband at the opening ceremony. And when Zach Johnson had magnanimously conceded his singles match with Clarke on the 16th, at a point when the Ulster man concedes "I had a two-footer to win the match and I was all over the place".

Goodwill abounded. Surely he had fed off that atmosphere that swirled in like a dawn mist that first morning? "I was more interested in getting my shot off the tee at the first, and somewhere near the fairway, and getting the whole thing started, " he says, with a wry laugh. "No, the reception that I received at the first really was incredible.

It didn't make the tee shot any easier, but it was great to know that I had the support that I had."

Woods, it had become evident in the prelude to the event, had been instrumental in his great friend finally making himself available to Europe's team captain.

Clarke confirms: "Tiger's comments and his phone calls definitely helped me come to the decision that I did. I really value our friendship. His support was very important to me and it did make a difference."

What had concerned Clarke was the inevitable focus on his own loss. He was anxious then, and now, that his personal circumstances should not diminish an overwhelming team triumph.

Indeed, the title of his book emphasises his attempt to deflect attention from himself and towards the quality of the dozen good men and true, lead by captain Ian Woosnam, whose eventual 18 1/2 - 9 1/2 victory equalled the Europe's best score recorded two years previously at Oakland Hills. "The week wasn't about me, " Clarke protests.

"And I didn't want it to be."

But the sporting year 2006 is decidedly about him, as next Sunday's BBC Sports Personality of the Year will almost certainly attest. "I'd be honoured to win it; of course, I would, " he says of his position as clear favourite. "But there's also another side of it sits uncomfortably with me, for obvious reasons. . .

Whether people would be voting for me out of sympathy or because of what went on (at the Ryder Cup). It's very strange. If my wife hadn't passed away, there'd be no way I would be getting the award."

Beyond that BBC date at the NEC in Birmingham, Clarke is already attuned to the possibilities yielded by the new year, one in which we will witness him stride the fairways again with renewed vigour and determination.

I would dearly love to win a major, I see my best chance as being on a links because of my affinity with Royal Portrush.

I'm playing a lot of golf there.

But my boys (Conor and Tyrone) are my number one priority. They're the heartbeat of my life. I've got to make sure that they're okay.

Whatever I do revolves around them."

Away from the course, he plans to continue fund-raising to help fight the disease that killed his wife. "I've been raising money through the Darren Clarke Foundation, that I've set up, " he explains.

"At the moment, there's about £250,000 that I'm ready to give to different charities. I'm planning to raise between £1m and £2m in the next one or two years . . . and hopefully that will make a difference."

You suggest the past year can only have strengthened him as a golfer; as a human being. "I've been tested as much as I can possibly be tested. Let's put it that way, " he says. "Whether that makes me a better, stronger person, I don't know."

That one moment, as he pulled back his driver on the first, on a morning when tears had flowed freely from all but Clarke himself, suggests the affirmative.