All golfers need a selfish streak, and Darren Clarke - now ensconced as world number nine - yesterday confirmed it.

Once upon a time, contending for a tournament provided its own adrenalin rush; now, the only thing that provides the required satisfaction for him is actually winning! Clarke hasn't won on the European Tour so far this season, although he has had global successes - in South Africa and, most recently, in Japan - and his eagerness to add more titles to his roll of honour will see him play in six straight tournaments, starting with today's International Open and finishing with the US Open.

Indeed, he will take just one week off after that before setting off on another six-week stretch, starting with the Irish Open. "I want to win tournaments - that is basically my goal," insisted Clarke, whose last win on the European circuit was the English Open some 11 months ago.

"I've managed to win two so far this season and I would like to win a few more at least. I want to win all over the world. It doesn't make any difference where I win," he said.

In fact, Clarke's last outing, in the Crowns Tournament on the Japanese Tour, resulted in victory. That win, having come so quickly after incurring a 10 at the 15th hole in the final round of the Spanish Open, a score which adequately demonstrated that once the scent of victory had evaporated then the competitive hunger abated, proved Clarke's ability to rebound from adversity.

In his previous win earlier this season on the Sunshine Tour, his response to missing the cut in the South African Open was to go out the following week and win the Dimension Data tournament. "My game is a lot better now than for quite some time," insisted Clarke. "I just haven't been taking as many chances as I would like, but I want to keep putting myself into position. My goal in Spain and Japan was to go winwin, and I put myself into position on both Sundays. One I won, and one I didn't," he said.

Normally, Clarke - who has had a quiet start to his European Tour schedule and currently lies 70th in the moneylist, one place behind another slowstarter Colin Montgomerie - doesn't play six-in-a-row. "I like the courses where these six events are being played and I just couldn't find a genuine free slot. Nobody is twisting my arm to play in them, I want to," he insisted. Although Clarke's previous tournament appearances at the Belfry haven't been as productive as he would have liked, he is impressed with the way it has been set-up this week.

"There are a lot of demanding shots that have to be hit on this golf course, a lot of proper shots. If you don't hit them, then you pay the penalty. The course is in great shape considering the amount of rain they've had. The fairways are pretty firm and they have done a great job to get the greens as good as they have. The course is a lot better than we had been expecting."