Darren Clarke had a one-shot lead through 13 holes at the Senior Open Championship Sunday when the Scottish skies opened up at Gleneagles with torrential fury.
A near two-hour rain delay gave the 2011 Open champion time to think about what he had to do to add the Senior Open to his accomplished resume.
At the time he was two in front of U.S. Senior Open champ Paddy Harrington and when play resumed, Harrington applied the pressure with a birdie-birdie finish that got him in the clubhouse with at nine-under par after a closing 67, including a back nine of six-under par 30.
Clarke arrived at the par five 18th knowing what he needed. Clarke, who birdied the par five 18th in his previous three rounds, hit two nice shots that got him to the front of the green then two-putts later, he had the Open double. He finished at 10-under thanks to a final round 69.
He joined Sir Bob Charles, Gary Player and Tom Watson as a winner of The Claret Jug and The Senior Open.
“I’ve made no secret of the fact that I wanted to win this more than anything,” Clarke said after his victory. “From when I turned 50, this is the one I wanted to win, so I could set it beside the other one. It’s a pretty good feeling right now. I feel very privileged to get my name on The Claret Jug and now to get my name on this one as well and go beside some legends of the game. I feel very humbled and very honored.
“Fulfilling your dreams is a very lucky thing and I’ve been able to do it a few times in my career.”
Clarke said he felt the same calmness that was inside him in previous big wins. “This week, I had that calmness again. I think it comes from being accepting, knowing that I hit some poor shots now and again. I’m not going to hole that many putts or whatever. And when you’re accepting, it’s easier just to amble along and accept the outcome.”
Ernie Els, Paul Broadhurst, Thongchai Jaidee, Steven Alker, Doug Barron and Mauricio Molina finished at eight under, tied for third.
7 Comments
baxter cepeda
Amazing Fitz-ian accomplishment.
I still remember so many parts of watching Clarke in that 2011 Open like it was yesterday. He was so patient. When the heavy rains and wind would come he would take his time putting on his rain gear and on most shots the weather would settle down big time by the time he hit.
That truly was one of the most clinical performance I’ve seen of how a man that age can benefit from his experience and patience.
I’m certainly not surprised he won this… easy compared to what he did at his age in 2011.
Tom Edrington
A better player than a lot of the stiffs you find on the LIV exhibition.
baxter cepeda
Tom liv have almost 1/4 of the top 100 in the world. And this guy is nowhere near that.
Tom Edrington
25 guys rated higher than 100?? Better go check that, Baxter, their rankings are dropping like rocks from a blimp. Here’s quick breakdown: Ranked in top 10 — zero; ranked in top 20: 1; ranked 21-30: 4; ranked 31-40: 3; ranked 41-50: 2; that’s 10 out of 48; More than half are ranked worse than 500, some are higher than 1,000; Pretty lame.
baxter cepeda
It’s about that many guys inside the top 100. Maybe just short of that.
I’m obviously talking about when guys enter LIv. Obviously their ranks are dropping…As is the value and credibility of the owgr, which has had problems to begin with.
Tom Edrington
I heard Will Zalatoris talk about PGA Tour vs LIV and he was incredibly concise and accurate and had extensive knowledge at to what’s happening….LIV is “living” on rumors, basically.
baxter cepeda
Cute the ball striker kid has comments. I’ll look for them. But if I was Will I’d focus on putting and winning, because both of those are still an issue.