Darren Clarke: 'Tiger Woods just needs time to return'

Darren Clarke has said that he expects Tiger Woods will be back once he has had time to adapt his swing.

Woods announced this week that he is taking a break from golf in order to improve his form.

"Tiger's been the best player in the world for a long, long time and he's trying to change his swing again through injuries and he's having to adapt," Clarke told Sky Sports News.

"Those injuries can take a little bit of time to go away and working on his swing is the same sort of thing, so he just needs a little bit of time, that's all.

"You can get down, it's quite easy to do, as it's a pretty tough job out there at times. Whenever you're trying to perform and you don't do it, it's particularly frustrating. But his talent is beyond question so I have no doubt he'll be back again."

Clarke admitted this week that he wants to be Team Europe's Ryder Cup captain in 2016.