The Northern Irishman, Open champion in 2011, follows Sir Bob Charles, Gary Participant and Tom Watson as winners of each titles. Padraig Harrington must wait to affix them as he completed a shot again from Clarke’s 10-under combination of 270.
Darren Clarke turned simply the fourth man to assert each Claret Jugs as he performed a canny and nerveless recreation within the moist on the King’s Course at Gleneagles to take the Senior Open.
Clarke needed to wait by a two-hour delay for flooded greens as the wonderful summer season lastly broke with heavy rainstorms. However he didn’t flinch all afternoon and into the night.
An enormous 70 foot putt to inside a foot on the final secured the mandatory birdie 4 to finish his remaining spherical 69 and declare the £370,000 first prize.
“I made no secret that I needed to win this yet one more than something,” he mentioned. “After I turned 50 this was the one I needed to win so I may sit it apart the opposite one.
“The Open was the one I at all times needed to win as a child. From after I went on the Senior Tour that is what I needed to win.
“I’m very lucky. Fulfilling your goals is a really fortunate factor to occur and I’ve been in a position to do it a couple of instances in my profession.”
Harrington may probably have snatched it from him the best way Cameron Smith did on the Open final week. However the double Open champion of 2007 and 2008 wasn’t in a position to convert affordable eagle probabilities on the 14th and 18th.
Harrington noticed a bunch of different putts go by the opening all weekend, negating his large distance benefit over the sphere. He transformed the birdie on the final to get to nine-under and tied for the lead.
However Clarke had only one false shot all day – his second on the tenth which price him a bogey six. Aside from that he was super-solid and whereas one birdie putt someplace earlier than 18 would have saved quite a lot of stress, he lastly received what he wanted there.
“The situations, it’s what I grew up enjoying in. It doesn’t make it any simpler, and at first it was a little bit of a battle.
“I used to be just about cruising till I made a horrible swing on 10 with my second shot. Abruptly I turned a simple birdie into a foul bogey.
“From there it was maintain my head down and I hit some actually good pictures, stored giving myself probabilities however the putter was a bit bit chilly all week. I didn’t gap something of observe. However each time I needed to do it on 18 there I needed to get one up shut.
