Open memories

When The 153rd Open is held at Royal Portrush in July, those seeking inspiration inside the clubhouse need look no further than the Gold Medal on display from 2011, when Darren Clarke produced a sublime performance to claim his first and only major title.

Clarke’s triumph at the age of 42 was a testament to his skill, perseverance and guile. However, as his medal’s presence at Portrush symbolises, it was also the product of Clarke’s decision to return to the course he calls home.

A win that saw Clarke become the oldest Champion Golfer since the 44-year-old Roberto De Vicenzo in 1967 came in extremely tricky conditions as wind and rain added to the test provided on England’s south-east coast. Fortuitously, Clarke was more than prepared for the elements, having battled them consistently following his move back to Portrush.

That experience allowed Clarke to put himself in position to end his long wait for a major, as three successive sub-70 rounds gave the Northern Irishman a one-stroke lead going into the final day, leading Royal Portrush’s head professional Gary McNeill – who would later play as a marker when The Open returned to his course in 2019 – to make a snap decision to watch boyhood friend Clarke attempt to clinch the Claret Jug.

“Having grown up with Darren," said McNeill, "we played a lot of our amateur golf together and travelled the length and breadth of Ireland playing in events and even going across to play in the likes of the Spanish Amateur Championship and things like that. I've known Darren since I was about 14 or 15 years of age.

“And then in 2011 he was back based here at Royal Portrush and his game was in good shape. He's always been a phenomenal ball-striker, a phenomenal player, but The Open or a major was just something that hadn't happened.

"I think he won a month or two prior, in Majorca I think it was, so his game was obviously in decent shape. And as he went through the rounds at Royal St George’s you could see that things were shaping up quite nicely.

“I remember we booked flights on the Saturday morning – in those days there was a flight, fortunately, from the City Airport in Belfast into Manston Airport, so we managed to catch a flight. He was leading at this stage, so we thought we need to get over here to see if this comes off.”

Fortune smiled on McNeill and his travelling companions, as they arrived in perfect time to witness their friend etch his name into Open history.

“So we got in and I remember flying into Manston right over the golf course and we landed and came out and there was one taxi parked outside and he took us to the golf course,” explained McNeill.

“We were there so easily, and Royal St George's is not an easy place to get to from Northern Ireland. But we got there in time for him. He was on the putting green at this stage and was just getting himself settled. And we followed him right round the golf course.

“He played a fabulous round of golf in tricky conditions – there was rain, there was quite a bit of breeze as well – but Darren was just being Darren. He played so naturally, he played really clever links golf. He has all the shots and those conditions really gave him the opportunity to play all those shots, and he got the job done really well.”

Clarke’s path to glory was not without its obstacles. A bogey at the 4th saw him caught by Phil Mickelson as the American made an early surge, but a brave 8-iron into the 7th followed by an expertly judged long putt for eagle restored Clarke's two-shot lead. He then posted nine successive pars while the challenges of Mickelson and Dustin Johnson faded, enabling him to deliver a bogey-bogey finish and still win by three strokes.

McNeill was invited to celebrate Clarke’s emotional triumph. Yet while the newly-crowned Champion Golfer could relish the prospect of flying the Claret Jug to Portrush and later dedicating his medal to the course, McNeill found himself assigned a more arduous journey.

“I remember that evening we got invited to the ISM (International Sports Management) House, and there were a lot of people around at the house,” recalled McNeill.

“Darren obviously had a lot of obligations to do at that time at the golf course and I remember him coming back, and at that point he'd been in Castle Stuart the week before at the Scottish Open and his car was down at Royal St George's. And the debate was, the next day, what's going to happen with the car here, because he was taking a private jet back to Belfast with the Claret Jug and [his partner] Alison, and then the keys were tossed in my direction!

“I had to bring the car back home to Portrush, so after quite a late night on the Sunday night we set about the journey from Sandwich to Stranraer to catch the ferry. It was a very pleasant journey in his Overfinch Range Rover all the way up the M6 and we got back eventually.

“Our main concern was we didn't know if we were going to miss the homecoming on the Monday evening, but it turned out that was actually arranged for the following evening. So we got back and got the Range Rover back in one piece. His clubs and everything were in it from the day before.

“In fact I got to Stranraer and we were just a wee bit late for the ferry, but the ferry hadn't left, and we were trying to persuade the people at Stranraer to let us on to this boat otherwise we would have to wait another three or four hours for the next boat.

“I can remember saying 'are there any golfers here' and they said 'oh yeah, there's such and such, he plays golf'. And I asked him 'did you watch The Open yesterday' and he said 'yeah, yeah, I watched The Open'. So I said "well, this is Darren Clarke's car here, I really need to try and get on to this boat to get it back home”. And, of course, his clubs were in the back seat as well. So I thought this might help, but it didn't, so we had to wait in Stranraer for a while to get back.”

The journey was well worth it, though. Clarke’s victory and his subsequent push for The Open to be held at Portrush for only the second time led to both him and McNeill playing cameo roles in another historic Championship as Shane Lowry triumphed at Portrush, to follow in the footsteps of Clarke, Fred Daly and Rory McIlroy as the fourth Champion Golfer to hail from the island of Ireland.

“They're great memories and it was a brilliant homecoming for him as well,” added McNeill.

“So many people came out to see him back here with the Claret Jug. To see someone that you know had won it was so special. And Darren tends to throw good parties as well, so we had a couple of good nights. It was very special and of course Darren played a huge role in bringing The Open back here to Royal Portrush. For him to hit the opening tee shot as well, that was special.

“That was the first ball that had been struck in an Open here since Max Faulkner putted out on the 18th green in 1951, so that was a very special moment for all of us and he went and birdied the 1st hole as well!”

The cast of characters at The 148th Open in 2019 was markedly different from that of the Championship held eight years prior.

Yet thanks to the exploits of Clarke on that soggy weekend in Kent, the two will be forever linked, with both giving McNeill memories to last a lifetime.