VIENNA, Austria (PA) -- Darren Clarke was surprised to find himself the joint favorite for this week's Bank Austria Open, but he won't be racing to the bookmakers to back himself.

Not because the Ulsterman is off form, however, far from it. In fact, Clarke arrived in Vienna on the back of a fourth-place finish in the Wales Open on Sunday and with one European Tour title, his 11th, to his name this season.

However, the 39-year-old is not in the habit of betting on himself to win tournaments, so he'll have to settle for just the first prize of about $340,000 should he triumph at Fontana Golf Club on Sunday.

"Am I? Oh, that's nice," was Clarke's reaction to being told of his favorites' tag. "It's been a while since that's happened. I've no idea the last time I would have been favorite. It's good, I'm playing fine and getting back on the right track."

Twelve months ago, Clarke was in the midst of the worst slump of his career, missing halfway cuts with monotonous regularity on his way from 35th in the world at the start of the year to ending it outside the top 200.

It was a run not helped by extraordinary pieces of bad luck like the one he suffered in Vienna, when he stood in the middle of the 18th fairway on Friday afternoon needing just a par 5 to make his first halfway cut since early February.

But on a sweltering afternoon, he was caught up in a passing squall that turned his approach shot from straightforward to treacherous, and the Ryder Cup star duly found the water that guards the front of the green to card a bogey 6 and make another early exit.

A year later, Clarke is steadily climbing the world rankings -- he is currently 104th, just two places behind a certain Colin Montgomerie heading in the opposite direction -- and gradually growing in confidence.

"I'm playing all right, I'm hitting the ball quite nicely and I'm happy with what I'm doing," he said. "It's nice to get here again this week. It's a fantastic facility, the greens are pure and everything about the course is very good. I'm looking forward to it.

"I played all right last year, but I got caught in a gust on 18 and I thought I needed birdie to make the cut. As it transpired, par would have been enough," he explained. "I was on a run of missing cuts at that stage so it was disappointing, but the course itself was fantastic.

"I'm at about 85 percent of where I need to be right now, but it's all going in the right direction. The extra 15 percent is just about getting myself into the positions I was in last week and keep doing that," he added. "The more frequently that I'm up there, the more comfortable I'll feel with the changes that I've made."

For the second year in succession, Clarke will miss next week's U.S. Open, but this time he chose not to even compete in Monday's 36-hole qualifier at Walton Heath.

"It wasn't an easy decision, but I said at the start of this year that my schedule was going to be based around Europe and I was committed to here for a few different reasons," Clarke explained. "To get over to Torrey Pines -- I've played there before and I know how tough the golf course is -- if I had qualified the earliest I would have got there is Monday night.

"An eight-hour time change to try and get used to a U.S. Open golf course is not really the preparation I need," he added. "Most U.S. Opens I've played I've played the week before in America and I wasn't able to do that this year if I tried to qualify. I just decided I'd be better off playing here this week and concentrate on Europe."

The only player in this week's field who will be at Torrey Pines is 2005 U.S. Open winner Michael Campbell, although the New Zealander has made just two halfway cuts in eight events in Europe this season.

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