Darren Clarke hopes he can start a new chapter in his colorful life when the Ballantine's Championship gets under way at Blackstone Golf Club on Thursday.
Clarke is looking to end a run of poor form since his victory last summer in the British Open.
In European Tour events his best finish was 20th at the Volvo Champions in South Africa in January, and in his only U.S. PGA Tour event this year, the Honda Classic, Clarke missed the cut.
However, after getting married to a former Miss Northern Ireland, Alison Campbell, on a Bahamas beach this month he is looking to improve his standing on the course as well as off it.
''I don't know how I am going to play,'' Clarke said. ''I have been frustrated for quite some time. I have been putting in a lot of hard work and not getting the scores.
''But I have opened one new chapter in my life by getting married again so hopefully now I can open a new chapter in my golf. I am fed up of playing poorly so it's time to change that.''
Clarke has not played the 6,618-meter (7,237-yard), hilly Blackstone layout but said he has taken advice from his friend and last year's Ballantine's winner Lee Westwood.
The world No. 3 has not returned to defend the title after winning the Asian Tour's Indonesian Open last weekend.
Clarke's main rivals near Seoul are certain to be Dustin Johnson and Adam Scott, who head the field.
Scott is playing for the first time since finishing eighth in the Masters after a final-round 66, while Johnson withdrew from the Masters two days beforehand after tweaking his back lifting a jet ski.
Scott has played Blackstone and knows the dangers that the co-sanctioned field, drawn mainly from the Asian and European Tours, will face.
''Its pretty hard and you have to keep focused,'' Scott said. ''There are a lot of birdie opportunities but there is also a lot of trouble. You cannot be too erratic out there.''
