The hoodoo hanging over the Nissan Irish Open will not budge. This was supposed to be Darren Clarke's day, the day he would rid John O'Leary of the tired tag of last Irishman to win the Irish Open back in 1982. But instead, Clarke would bogey two of his last three holes just as his good friend Thomas Bjorn birdied the last two holes to be crowned the new champion.
When play was abandoned at 3pm yesterday afternoon Clarke had pushed a drive into heavy rough from the ninth tee. He was leading the tournament by two shots on six under from Sweden's Peter Hedblom and English pair, Paul Casey and Ross Fisher.
Clarke had left his ball where it lied overnight. "Yesterday I had a very poor lie and when I got back this morning and a lot of people must have been looking for the ball and trampled the long grass around it," he explained.
"It was a much better lie than when I left it yesterday. I came back to it and could have hit it onto the green with a seven-iron but if I had I would have held my head in shame walking up to the green. So I decided the best thing to do was just chip it out, play it like I would have played it last night."
Clearly not comfortable with the situation Clarke initially called for the match referee to clarify the situation. Having radioed into base for a ruling the Scandinavian official took a second look and said Clarke was free to play the ball as it lied.
"I am going to pitch back out to the fairway and play the shot I intended to play last night," Clarke was heard stating on the course. "That way my conscience is clear, I know that's the right thing to do."
Having pitched out, and only just making the fairway, Clarke found the green in three and two-putted for bogey to reduce his lead to one shot from playing partner Hedblom and Bjorn. Clarke then steered a steady course to par the first six holes on the back nine with realistic birdie opportunities on three of them.
The par four 16th was playing tough into the wind and in failing to find the green in regulation he made bogey to drop back into a share of the lead on four under with Casey, who had birdied the 12th and 15th. Bjorn, meanwhile, looked to have blown his chances when a bogey at 16 dropped him back to three under.
Having parred the par three 17th Clarke launched a drive off 18 and played his second just short of the green at the par five. A less than clean contact with his pitch and run left him some 40feet short of the flag and needing to come up over the slight ridge. His first putt was left 10 feet short and would go on to miss the next for a final bogey. He signed for a 73 to finish three under, two behind Bjorn in third.
"I just tried to play a low pitch and run from the back foot for my third and just chunked it basically," said a visibly disappointed Clarke. "Obviously I'm disappointed and a bit gutted with the way I finished, it's a tournament I really wanted to win."
As for Bjorn, a five-iron to 18 feet and hole for birdie on 17 and another birdie from seven feet at the last was enough to capture the title and collect the €366,660 first prize. In fact the Dane also equalled the European Tour record - which has stood for 31 years - namely the highest opening first round (78) recorded by the eventual winner. The record was held by George Burns in the Kerrygold International Classic at Waterville in 1974, where Burns won in a play-off.
Bjorn said his golf guru Jos Vanstiphout "must take a lot of credit" for this win as the Belgian helped him turn it around after the opening round to shoot 66, 67 and a final round 72. Despite his delight at winning, Bjorn was full of praise for Clarke.
"The way Darren handled the situation at the ninth speak volumes of him as a person. He is as good a sportsman as you will ever meet, he puts the game above everything else and that is the correct example we professionals need to set," said Bjorn.
"There aren't many times I pay much attention to who wins but there is no other person in the world I'd like to see win a tournament than Darren, especially this one.
"In the press I always seem to be reminded of that bunker shot at the Open or the collapse at the K-Club last year. Now it will be nice to read something positive. Having worked hard on my game it's good to see its going in the right direction, especially with the US Open coming up."
Casey's closing 73 left him sandwiched between Bjorn and Clarke in second on two under, while Padraig Harrington had to settle for a 74 to drop back to level par to finish 11th. The Irish quartet of Stephen Browne (72), Damien McGrane (73), Colm Moriarty (73), and Peter Lawrie (73) all finished tied 19th on three over while David Higgins (72) was six over in a tie for 37th.
