Conor Clarke was at work at Colin Glen Driving Range, it was 5pm on Saturday and he was looking forward to a 12-noon tee time the following day, Lisburn had history to make.
Royal Portrush stood in the way of a first ever Ulster North AIG Men’s Senior Cup title, and Clarke was out in the fourth match against William Beattie.
He stood up from his chair and began to feel faint, his colleague who is studying medicine, noticed his pale complexion and dark circles under his eyes.
The 24-year-old has battled anaemia and was destined for another overnight stint in A&E. He used to be a regular visitor to the Mater Hospital in Belfast to treat his scoliosis, but this was a shock.
By 1am the match looked in jeopardy, and Clarke had to make a very difficult call.
“I told them to pull out the line because I was up the next morning for the match. That was only ten hours later,” said Clarke.
“I was meant to be working from 4pm to 9.30pm, and I stood up and nearly fainted. A guy I work with noticed and said, your anaemia is clearly back, badly. Which I knew.
“He said, go to the ER. I went down, got seen to, got a line put in, ready to go. And then it got to 1am and I asked the doctor, when am I going to get seen again? They said, probably 8am. I was like, right, take it out. I need to go to a match.
“It’s an ongoing thing because the last scoliosis surgery, they didn’t top me up with enough blood. And then from the painkillers, there has been a hole in my stomach leaking a bit of blood. I’ve been in A&E twice this year and I’ve seen a few doctors.
“I want to go pro and this year was disappointing with all the health stuff. It’s annoying but I have a procedure in place to resolve the anaemia over winter, with the help of Queen’s University and Hugh Campbell.
“I will get it sorted once I have a break to do the biopsies and get to the bottom of it. I want to turn professional at the end of next year.
“I’ve got the right team around me, coaches and conditioning, and with the health problem being resolved soon I’m looking forward to a clear run at golf with no obstacles.”
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Clarke grew up in west Belfast, he later went to study an Undergraduate Degree in Economics at Queen’s University and followed up with a Master’s in International Business.
He represented St John’s GAC in the Ballymurphy and Whiterock area, where he played hurling and gaelic football throughout his youth.
Eventually his scoliosis meant he had to give those up but he pursued his beloved golf.
“I played hurling and gaelic until I was 16. Everybody else is getting a lot bigger. I said, I just think I’ll stick to the golf here,” said Clarke.
“Golf was good for me when I was younger, coming from where I come from. In west Belfast, it was good to have a sport that you can focus on that’s really time consuming. Hurling and gaelic was a big thing as well, but you’re only training for an hour or two a day.
“With golf, I’m really competitive and I can sometimes lose the temper a bit, but it’s good for me and I really enjoy it. I enjoy being by myself for long periods of time.”
Clarke was born with scoliosis, he has a curved spine, he has had over ten surgeries, which began with a cast.
He later had iron and metal bars inserted into his back but there were pitfalls and one of his most significant setbacks came when he was 16.
“One day, I was on the ninth hole at Balmoral, walking up the fairway and felt a crack. I was like, oh, f**k, what’s that? Then my back started really stiffening up. I was like, something’s not right here,” said Clarke.
“I spent the next few days in bed. I hate hospitals, I’ve been there enough, I don’t want to go back. But mam was like, no, you actually have to go, you haven’t moved.
“We were just finished with the X-ray, and they realized that I snapped the metal bar on my back. They had to get me in for emergency spinal fusion surgery, the same thing Tiger Woods has.
“So, that was the golf career. That’s why if you’re looking at any of my boys’ stuff, there was a big gap. I didn’t play anything, I played a lot of U-14, a few U-16, one Ulster Boys’ event and that was it.
“That boys’ event that I played after my surgery I actually came second in the Ulster Boys at Warrenpoint.”
Clarke’s case can be typical of scoliosis, where erosion causes a break, but doctors believe golf has been a help rather than a hindrance.
His swing is no different, he delivers the club in the same position. There is a slight lack of rotation in his lower back, where he has tendency to slide his hips on the way back.
Clarke lives with a certain degree of pain every day but never lets it affect his game, while his anaemia can be a bigger issue.
“There’s a funny photo out there. When I played with Mark Cadden at the North of Ireland, where I fell asleep on the 13th tee box in the middle of the tournament,” said Clarke.
“We were in a two-ball, and it was slow. The weather was terrible and I lay down for a second, but then I was out.
“I woke up five minutes later and I was like, f**k, are we still waiting, oh my God.”
Clarke is a regular fixture on the Golf Ireland amateur circuit and he constantly appears towards the top of the leaderboards.
He was T4 at the AIG Irish Men’s Amateur Close Championship in Portumna during Round 2 and will be one of the leading lights for Lisburn this week too.
Clarke is also the course record holder in Balmoral, where he shot 59 last year, and after a long season he will hope to help his adopted club to a huge victory over reigning champions Douglas in the AIG Men’s Senior Cup quarter-finals at Shandon Park.
And if it is anything like the Ulster decider, where he sunk the decisive 15-footer on the 20th hole, he will be a central figure just 15 minutes from home.
“I played against my mate Will. It was a good match and a class finish, from both of us to be fair. The amount of people, I’d say there was nearly 150 around,” said Clarke.
“The vast majority of them were Portrush members. They were silent when the putt went in and all the Lisburn lads in the team and subs ran onto the green.
“It went to the second play-off hole, uphill Par 3. We both hit it in the bunker and then I just dumped it out, it was terrible. He missed his putt and then I got mine.”
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