17 July 2011 17:01
GMT
Darren Clarke won his first Major title at the 54th time of asking when he closed with a battling level par 70 to claim a three shot victory over Americans, Phil Mickleson and Dustin Johnson, at the 140th Open Championship over a windswept Royal St George’s.
Clarke, at the age of 42 years and 337 days, becomes the oldest player to win The Open Championship since Roberto de Vicenzo, who was 44 years and 93 days old when he won the title at Hoylake in 1967.
The popular Dungannon man also becomes the oldest player to win any Major since Ben Crenshaw claimed the 1995 Masters at the age of 43 years and 88 days, not to mention the twelfth different Major winner in succession, since Padraig Harrington claimed his second successive Major at the PGA Championship back in 2008.
Incredibly, the new champion also become the third golfer from Northern Ireland to win a Major in the last 13 months, joining Graeme McDowell (2010 US Open) and Rory McIlroy (2011 US Open) in the exclusive Major Champions club. No wonder he was emotional at the end.
Heading into this year’s Championship, Fred Daly, the 1947 champion, had been the only golfer from Northern Ireland to win The Open but all that changed as Clarke overhauled a strong initial challenge from Mickelson to claim a place among the immortals of the game.
Clarke started the final round one shot ahead of Johnson and three in front of Fowler and in the end cruised to victory in style.
He opened his round with a birdie on the 417-yard par-4 second, dropped a shot at the treacherous 495-yard par-4 fourth but then settled his nerves when he hit a perfect iron into 20-feet on the 564-yard par-5 seventh and then rolled in the eagle putt.
Ten consecutive pars were to follow until, with the job all but done, and with the £900,000 winner’s cheque almost in his grasp, he dropped shots at both the last two holes. That somewhat untidy, but utterly insignificant, finish left him with a 72-hole aggregate of five under par 275, three shots ahead of both Mickelson and Johnson and another stroke in front of the battling Thomas Bjorn, the only other man to finish under par. Americans, Chad Campbell, Rickie Fowler and Anthony Kim all shared fifth place on level par 280.
Moments after Clarke’s historic victory the absent Tiger Woods tweeted from across the Atlantic saying: “Very happy for Darren Clarke. Well deserved win.”
The Irishman himself was ecstatic after finally winning a Major after all the heartache that had gone before.
“To sit here with this trophy means the world to me,” he said. “I’ve dreamt since I was a kid that one day I would do this and, now I have, I can’t really believe it.
“It feels incredible to tell you the truth,” he added. “I went out there to do my best. That’s what I did and on this occasion my best was good enough.”