With his victory at the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai three weeks ago, Darren Clarke fulfilled one of his ambitions for the season - to get back into the winner’s circle on the European Tour after an absence of nearly five years.

Now the Northern Irishman has his second target within sight: a place on the Europe Ryder Cup team of Nick Faldo that will take on the United States at Valhalla, Kentucky, in September.

Clarke, with six appearances to his name, is destined to be forever associated with the Ryder Cup after his emotional, unbeaten contribution to Europe’s success at the K Club in 2006, just six weeks after the death of his wife, Heather, from breast cancer.

That year he was one of Ian Woosnam’s two inspired picks for the team (the other was his great friend, Lee Westwood), but this time around the 39-year-old Ulsterman is determined to qualify as of right. He is not expecting any favours from Faldo.

On the eve of the Irish Open that gets under way at Adare Manor today, Clarke revealed that he would forego an attempt to qualify for the US Open, at Torrey Pines, San Diego, next month, in order to concentrate on improving his ranking in Europe.

At present, he lies outside the top 25 in the Europe Ryder Cup standings, but knows that if he maintains his new-found form for the rest of the summer then a seventh appearance in the biennial event is within his reach. On the back of his victory in China, he has climbed 122 places in the world rankings, to No.114, and is up to No.16 on the Order of Merit.

Despite missing the US Open qualifying at Walton Heath on June 2, Clarke is not proving work shy. Beginning this week, he will play in four tournaments on the trot - the Irish Open, the BMW PGA Championship, the Wales Open and the Austrian Open - and believes his game is approaching its previous level.

“My whole game is based around Europe, to get myself back on the ladder again and to start climbing up the world rankings,” he said. “My goal is to try to make the team, (but) I probably need to win another couple of times. Some people may frown at my decision (to avoid the US Open), but that’s the way I see it.” While Irish eyes will be closely monitoring Clarke as the week unfolds, they will also be following a host of home-grown players who have come into form at just the right time.

Padraig Harrington last year became the first Irishman to win the Irish Open since John O’Leary 25 years earlier. He has since gone on to win the Open Championship at Carnoustie, while four of his countrymen have arrived here having won in recent weeks - Graeme McDowell, in Korea, Damien McGrane and Clarke in China, and Peter Lawrie, in Spain.

The sun is shining and the Irish are preparing to make hay. They might take some stopping.