Just a month after Rory McIlroy became the youngest U.S. Open winner since 1933 and a year after Graeme McDowell’s triumph at the same event, another Northern Irishman, Darren Clarke, joined them in the Major winners club with a stunning performance at Royal St George’s, Sandwich.
At 42, Clarke became the oldest Open champion since 1967 and his feat catapulted him from 111th in the World Ranking to 30th. He went on to win the Claret Jug, the well-known Open trophy, in his 20th appearance at the tournament and his 54th Grand Slam appearance.
The Northern Irishman won by three strokes over Americans Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, and extended to six the winning streak of European Tour players in the four Majors, which began after Mickelson’s triumph in last year’s Masters. These three players plus Thomas Bjorn, who finished fourth, were the only four players to finish with an overall score under par.
“It’s really unbelievable,” Clarke declared, overcome with emotion at the mention of his two children, motherless since 2006 when his wife Heather died of breast cancer. “It’s for the kids,” he said alluding to the win.
Darren knew like no one else how to deal with a difficult course and tremendously adverse weather conditions, and with a closing 70 strokes against the wind and rain, he finished his triumphant performance with a total of 275 strokes, five under.
The star of the 2006 Ryder Cup – he was the hero of the victory six weeks after losing his wife – arrived at the 18th green with the peace of mind of knowing he had up to three putts to sink the long-awaited shot for the long-awaited victory.
Dane Bjorn, fourth this time, did not relive the three-shot lead with four holes to play that he held in 2003. This time that lead belonged to Clarke, who pulled within four of Johnson when he went out of bounds on the 14th and four strokes of Mickelson when the Golden Lefty bogeyed four holes in six.
“I’m a little speechless,” Clarke said. “On the last couple of holes I was trying not to make stupid mistakes and play very carefully,” he added.
Mickelson, who like Clarke made his Open debut in 1991, had climbed into a share of the lead after getting through the first seven holes at an incredible five under par, but closed the back nine with a 38 and had to settle for an improvement on his third place finish in the Open in what had so far been his best performance in this tournament, at Troon seven years ago.
Only two players had won their first major when they were older than Clarke: Jerry Barber, aged 45, in 1961 at the U.S. PGA Championship, and Roberto De Vicenzo, aged 44, at the 1967 British Open.
And in the British Open only three champions have been older than Clarke: De Vicenzo, Harry Vardon and Old Tom Morris.
Clarke was not the lowest ranked player in the World Ranking to win at Royal St. George’s, as that mark belongs to Ben Curtis, who won eight years ago when he was ranked 396th in the ranking.
Thanks to his victory, Clarke increased his current account by a little more than one million euros out of the 5.4 million that the tournament distributed in prizes. The champion has won this year’s Iberdrola Open in Mallorca and accumulates fourteen victories in the European Tour, some of them as important as the Volvo Masters 1998, the WGC Match Play 2000 or the WGC NEC Invitational 2003.
One of the disappointments of the tournament was embodied in Rory McIlroy, the young winner of the U.S. Open. He was only able to go under par on one day, and in the end he finished in 25th place. Worse was the performance of defending champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, who, with 293 strokes, was 54th, and even worse for world number one Luke Donald, who missed the cut with rounds of 71 and 75.
And the Spaniards?
Sergio Garcia, ninth classified, was the most outstanding Spaniard in the British Open after recovering from Saturday’s disastrous round (74) and having signed the best round of the day on Sunday (68), only equaled by Mickelson. The Spaniard, with two first rounds of 70, totaled 282 strokes.
Although Miguel Angel Jimenez was for three days the most determined Spanish contender, to the point of being among the top five, always very close to the leaders, it was finally Sergio who took the role of the best Spaniard in the competition, thanks mainly to a brilliant performance on the last day, which allowed him to climb significant positions in the final classification.
Jimenez, on the other hand, slipped from the fifth place with which he started Sunday to 25th place, all the product of a very solid performance during 54 holes weighed down by a final round full of difficulties to which he did not find the right solution. His 78 holes, which contrasts with the 66 of the first day, gave him a total of 287.
Pablo Larrazábal, 30th, with 289 strokes, was the other Spaniard who made the cut. The Spaniard from Barcelona, very steady for 36 holes, slipped from the top positions in the following 36, although he has once again demonstrated the good form he has been in since the beginning of the season.
Neither Alejandro Cañizares nor Álvaro Quiros made the cut. The player from Malaga was very close, but the +4 was not enough. While the player from Cadiz, who arrived with a sore wrist, finished the day with +9 for a total of +14.
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