Singh loses Irish Open lead, Clarke misses cut

Updated July 30, 2011 11:36:15

Germany's Marcel Siem replaced India's Jeev Milkha Singh at the top of the leaderboard at the Irish Open after a superb finish to his second round on Friday.

Siem eagled the long 16th to join Singh and Denmark's Soren Hansen in first place and then birdied the next hole to move into sole possession of the lead.

He finished with his second successive round of 66, one shot in front of Singh and Hansen and a further shot ahead of Spain's former Ryder Cup player Ignacio Garrido, who finished with three birdies for a 65.

Singh matched the lowest round of his career in the first round on Thursday with an 8-under-par 63.

The 39-year-old son of a former Olympic sprinter hit an eagle and six birdies on Thursday, but found it harder to continue that inspired form 24 hours later and carded a 1-under round of 70.

Singh quickly set the tone for an erratic round as he bogeyed the first hole and the 418 yard fourth, but found enough composure to birdie the second, with a fine putt from eight feet, and also the seventh and the short tenth.

"It was a bit more of a struggle, so I'm happy with 1-under," Singh said.

"I didn't drive it that well and my putting was not as good, but it was still good enough."

Meanwhile, England Simon Wakefield came on strong late in his round and birdied the 16th and 17th to reach 7-under, which was enough to finish the day level in fifth place with Raphael Jacquelin of France.

Defending champion Ross Fisher and fellow Englishmen Simon Dyson and Simon Wakefield are among those on 7-under and promising Irish amateur Paul Cutler stands 6-under after a 67.

Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington both missed the cut, leaving Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell to fill the void for the Irish crowds.

McIlroy grabbed three late birdies for a second-round 68, while fellow Northern Irishman McDowell, the 22-year-old's predecessor as US Open champion, went two better than that to put both of them on 4-under par at halfway.

In his first start since his dream British Open victory at Sandwich, 42-year-old Clarke dropped four shots in the last eight holes for a 74 and 1-over aggregate.

"A weekend off is not what I wanted coming here. It will not do me any harm, but I'd much prefer to be playing," Clarke said.

"It's more mental fatigue than physical fatigue. I was trying and couldn't get anything going - I couldn't buy a putt."

Three-major winner Harrington had little hope after double-bogeying the short sixth and with a 72 crashed out on 3-over.

That is now back-to-back missed cuts for the Dubliner before he heads back to America and, already down to 64th in the world, he is likely to fall even further now.

"It's tough when you miss the cut, but it's fine lines out here. It just wasn't my two days. Going double bogey, bogey knocked the stuffing out of me," Harrington said.

AFP

Tags: golf, sport, ireland

First posted July 30, 2011 07:58:28

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Darren Clarke tees off on the 11th hole

Darren Clarke tees off on the 11th hole during the second round of the British Open at Royal St George's in Sandwich, southern England (Reuters: Toby Melville)

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Clarke stands on the ninth tee during the third round

Tournament leader Darren Clarke stands on the ninth tee during the third round of the 140th British Open at Royal St George's in Sandwich.

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Clarke holds nerve to seal Open triumph

Updated July 18, 2011 06:34:39

Darren Clarke held his nerve to clinch victory at the British Open, becoming the oldest winner of the championship in 44 years as he ended his long wait for a major.

The popular 42-year-old from Northern Ireland kept his cool in demanding conditions to card a level-par 70, leaving him 5- under for the tournament and three strokes clear of Americans Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.

"It's been a dream since I've been a kid to win The Open, like any kid's dream is, and I'm able to do it, which just feels incredible, incredible right now," Clarke told reporters.

Richard Green's final-round 71 left him as the best-placed Australian at 10 strokes from the leader with Adam Scott (75) and Jason Day (72) another two and three shots off the pace respectively.

Clarke's win capped a final round of twists and turns at Royal St George's, where wild fluctuations in the weather were mirrored early on by a fast-moving battle at the top of the leaderboard before rivals fell away.

It also represented a triumph of persistence for the paunchy, cigarette-smoking Clarke, who finally claimed the famous Claret Jug at the 20th time of asking, a new record.

Clarke, whose ranking has slipped to 111 in recent years, becomes the oldest winner of the Open since Argentina's Roberto de Vicenzo won aged 44 in 1967.

Many observers had assumed that Clarke's days of challenging for majors were over, with the veteran Ulsterman seemingly destined to forever rue his near-miss at the 1997 Open at Troon, where he tied for second.

But Clarke insisted he never doubted his ability to eventually break through.

"Bad times in golf are more frequent than the good times," he said.

"There's times I've been completely and utterly fed up with the game.

"But friends and family say, get out there and practice and keep going, keep going, keep going, and that's why I'm sitting here now."

Clarke's victory was the third by a golfer from Northern Ireland in a major tournament in just over a year, following Rory McIlroy's triumph at the US Open last month, an event won by Graeme McDowell 12 months earlier.

Clarke also paid tribute to his late wife Heather, with whom he had two sons, who died in 2006 from breast cancer.

"In terms of what's going through my heart, there's obviously somebody who is watching down from up above there, and I know she'd be very proud of me," he said. "She'd probably be saying, 'I told you so.'

"But I think she'd be more proud of my two boys and them at home watching more than anything else. It's been a long journey to get here. But I've got here in the end."

Nail-biting final day

Clarke had started Sunday's final round with a one-shot advantage over Johnson, who was desperate to atone for suffering two agonising near-misses at last year's US Open and US PGA Championship.

Yet for long periods of a thrilling final 18 holes, it looked as if three-time major winner Mickelson would pose the most serious threat.
Mickelson, who had started the day five behind Clarke, produced a dazzling putting display over the front nine to wipe out the Ulsterman's lead and join him at the top of the leaderboard on 5-under.

Mickelson reeled in Clarke with three birdies and an eagle to go out in 5-under-par courtesy of some red-hot putting, and he might have had another had a birdie putt not lipped out at the eighth.

But Clarke then hit back with a 20-foot eagle putt of his own on the par-five seventh to move to 7-under and move two clear of Mickelson, setting the stage for a nail-biting climax over the back nine.

Mickelson closed to within one of Clarke after holing another long-range putt from 18 feet at the 10th for birdie.

Mickelson, Johnson implode

Yet just as it seemed that the momentum was with the 41-year-old from California, Mickelson's flawless putting deserted him with bogeys on the 11th, 13th, 15th and 16th.

He eventually carded a 2-under-par 68, leaving him 2- under for the tournament, three behind Clarke.

Mickelson's implosion left Clarke's playing partner Johnson as the man best placed to end American golf's long wait for a major.

Johnson rolled in an eight-footer on the 12th for birdie to move within two shots of Clarke. But when the 27-year-old from South Carolina crashed his ball out of bounds par-five 14th, it was all over.

Johnson's double-bogey seven put Clarke four strokes ahead with four holes to play, and from there the result was never in doubt as he came home to roars from the thousands packing the grandstands around the last.

Meanwhile pre-tournament favourite McIlroy concluded an unhappy Open with a 3-over-par 73 to finish 7-over for the tournament.

McIlroy, 22, later blamed the variable weather for undermining his challenge.

"I'm not a fan of golf tournaments that the outcome is predicted so much by the weather. It's not my sort of golf," McIlroy said.

AFP

Tags: golf, sport, england, northern-ireland, united-kingdom

First posted July 18, 2011 05:52:27

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Open champ Clarke joins Coolum field

Updated July 28, 2011 08:51:16

Newly-crowned British Open champion Darren Clarke has joined the star-studded field teeing off at this year's Australian PGA Championship at Coolum.

Clarke, who stamped himself as one of the world's best links players with his two-shot victory at Sandwich two weeks ago, will now look to bring his form down under from November 24-27.

The Northern Irishman joins drawcards like of Greg Norman, Jason Day and American Bubba Watson in the PGA field.

"I have heard great things about Queensland and the course at Coolum so I am looking forward to playing golf in more warm conditions than I am used to and also testing my game on a different style course to that of a links," Clarke said.

"My family also can't wait to get to the Sunshine Coast."

The Irish are dominating world golf with Clarke winning The Open and his younger compatriot Rory McIlroy winning last month's US Open.

But no Irishman has ever won the Australian PGA Championship.

"Knowing that I could be the first Irishman to win the Australian PGA will be in the back of my mind when I come to play and I hope that I have plenty of fellow Irishman there to cheer me on," Clarke added.

The PGA Championship will again be co-sanctioned by OneAsia, with the tournament to be the second-last event in the race to 2011 Order of Merit honours.

AAP

Tags: golf, sport, coolum-beach-4573, qld, australia

First posted July 28, 2011 08:51:16

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