Darren Clarke completed a long, often tragic journey with the greatest of triumphs as he cradled the Claret Jug, having won the 140th Open Championship at Royal St George’s.
Widowed when Heather died from cancer five years ago, he admitted that “somebody up there was watching over me” as he put behind him the missed chances of Troon in 1997, and Lytham in 2001, and strolled to victory at Sandwich.
He is the first Briton to win the championship since Paul Lawrie in 1999, but although the squalling weather reminded one of that day at Carnoustie there were no dramatics to compare and never any suggestion Clarke would falter.
The 42-year-old could barely hold himself together down the stretch, but that was all about the emotion rather than anything wrong with his golf game, which barely wavered on the final day as he watched the challenges of Phil Mickelson and then Dustin Johnson crash and burn as dramatically as they had risen.
“What can I say? I dreamed of winning this trophy as a kid like anybody else and to have it now is just amazing,” he said. “I know somebody was watching me up there, and she’ll have been telling me ‘I told you so’ because she always believed this moment would come.
“It’s been a long journey and I’m not getting any younger, but I got here in the end. It might be the only major I ever win and it might not be, but I couldn’t have asked any more of myself than what I did today.”
In the end Clarke’s final-round par 70 was good enough for a five-under aggregate of 275, three shots ahead of Johnson and Mickelson sharing second place. It’s now the longest spell without a major winner for the USA since 1911.
Clarke’s victory means that we are three-quarters of the way to a “Chubby slam” of major victories by clients of Chandler’s ISM stable, but this victory will be especially sweet for the jovial agent, as the new Open champion was his first and most loyal client.AstonishingHe is also the third major champion from Northern Ireland in just over a year, an astonishing record from a country of only 1.8 million people, and stretched the European Tour’s major record to six in a row.
“We have two amazing talents in Rory (McIlroy) and G-Mac (Graeme McDowell) and here’s this old guy coming along behind them,” he said.”It’s an amazing thing for such a small place, but we have the talent, the courses, the facilities. At one of the parties for Rory the other week people were telling me to get the finger out and win one as well.”I felt great this week and feel I always have an advantage over links, so I’m not entirely surprised about this.”
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Clarke added that he had supportive messages from McIlroy and Tiger Woods before yesterday’s play, but said their content would remain private, as did the message from the beaten Mickelson at the award ceremony.
“Phil and Amy were very special to me, especially at the Ryder Cup in 2006, and what he said means a lot to me,” he said.
The impression one got arriving at the course was that no-one would be able to score and that level-par might win the jug with sharp rainstorms and winds gusting up to 40mph at times, but early starters Spencer Levin (69) and Ryan Moore (69) suggested otherwise.
The point was driven home by Sergio Garcia, who rocketed to four-under on the day and level for the championship by the seventh, before being fatally undone by a double bogey six at the tough eighth and eventually finishing tied for ninth.WindyHowever it was Mickelson, fooling all of us who were certain he could not cope with windy links conditions, who really thundered through the field.
A birdie at the second, a big one at the brutally tough fourth and then another at the short sixth had him moving up to second ahead of a slow-starting Dustin Johnson.
A wedge into the downwind short par five seventh brought a 30-foot birdie putt and a share of the lead with Clarke, who had started steadily and crucially made some big putts.
With Mickelson eight feet away in two at that eighth and Clarke missing a 15-footer at the sixth, momentum seemed in favour of the American, but his birdie putt did a pirouette of the edge of the hole, and behind him Clarke had an eagle three at the seventh.
Mickelson had an 18-foot birdie putt at the 10th, but at the 11th he prodded a par putt of less than 18 inches off the edge of the cup.
The inkling that luck was smiling on Clarke was confirmed when he got help from the contours at the eighth and a shot from the rough on the ninth skipped in and out of a fairway bunker, both made for par.
Mickelson’s chance slipped away with misses from eight feet for par at 13, six feet for birdie at 14 and 18 feet via a bunker for par at 15, leaving Johnson, with birdies at 10 and 12, to take up the chase.
However, the younger American passed up a chance at the 13th. When attempting to get home in two at the long 14th, he sliced it out of bounds for double-bogey.
Bogeys did come at 17 and 18, but they just illustrated how much Clarke had in hand.
“You never think it is certain until you are on the 18th green, and I knew that even I could get down in four there,” he said. “The crowd were all for me and they were fantastic, they gave me a huge help all day.”