Asian Open: Darren Clarke banished a few demons on the 18th hole in Shanghai today, sinking a 30-foot birdie putt to beat Robert-Jan Derksen from The Netherlands by one stroke and clinch the BMW Asian Open.

Clarke, needing a birdie to avoid a playoff with playing partner Derksen, and having nearly putted himself out of the game on the 16th and 17th holes, made birdie at the last to card a one-over 73 for a total 280 eight-under total at the Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club.
   
A thrilled Clarke, who lost his wife Heather after a long battle with cancer two years ago, said: "It was always going to be a difficult hurdle for me to get back into the winner's enclosure after Heather passed away.
   
"But to turn around and make a brilliant last and win the cup feels pretty good," said Clarke, whose last win on the European Tour was at the WGC-NEC International in Ohio in 2003.

"This win is very special," added the 39-year-old. "It has been a very difficult time obviously. I've put in hours and hours of work and it feels good to win again."

Clarke, leading Derksen by two with three holes to play, did all he could to throw the tournament away, missing a two foot par putt on the par-four 16th, then bogeying the par-four 17th to level the scores.
   
Few would have backed Clarke for birdie on the last after Derksen ratcheted up the pressure by placing a recovery chip from behind the green to within two feet of the flag.
   
But the putt dropped where so many shorter ones had missed, leaving the Dundannon man with his arms raised in the air.
   
"My mind started going forward probably about 14 onwards. I lost my concentration and started thinking about Heather and the boys (sons Tyrone and Conor) and bits of pieces," Clarke said.
   
Derksen, who conceded a two-stroke lead to Clarke after chipping into the water for a double-bogey on the 14th, battled manfully to get back into contention, sinking long putts to save par as Clarke wilted on the greens.
   
Denied at the last, Derksen also carded a 73 to finish two strokes above Italy's Francesco Molinari, who tied with Briton Robert Dinwiddie and Lin Wen-tang of Taiwan for third.
   
Peter Lawrie made up ground on the field with his closing 70 to finish in a tie for ninth on two-under. Unfortunately for Rory McIlory he went the other direction as his closing 76 left the teenager tied 27th on three-over.

Gary Murphy was 54th after his 75 left him seven-over.

World number 13 Henrik Stenson of Sweden finished outright fourth a stroke behind on four-under for a total of 284 after carding a final round 68.
   
Twice US Open champion Retief Goosen finished equal seventh on 287 after a final round 73.

Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour BMW Asian Open, Tomson Shanghai Pudong GC, Shanghai, China

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

280 Darren Clarke 71 69 67 73

281 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 69 69 73

283 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 75 68 69, Robert Dinwiddie 70 73 66 74,
Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 71 71 69 72

284 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 76 72 68

285 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 72 74 67, John Bickerton 71 75 69 70

286 Scott Hend (Aus) 69 74 71 72, Peter Lawrie 72 74 70 70

287 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 70 72 73, Oliver Wilson 68 74 74 71, Paul Broadhurst
71 73 71 72

288 Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 75 70 72, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 71 71 73 73, Scott
Strange (Aus) 71 75 70 72, Greg Norman (Aus) 71 73 73 71

289 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 75 69 69 76, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 73 69 73,
Iain Steel (Mal) 71 74 71 73, Miles Tunnicliff 71 70 73 75, Simon Wakefield 73
72 75 69

290 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 76 70 76, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 74 70 74
72, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 74 72 67 77, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 67 74 72 77

291 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 75 72 73 71, Young-Woo Nam (Kor) 72 73 72 74,
Chris Rodgers 71 73 71 76, David Frost (Rsa) 72 75 72 72, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 73
74 71 73, Rory McIlroy 73 73 69 76, Paul Lawrie 75 72 71 73, Sam Little 71 76 70
74

292 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 70 74 72 76, David Gleeson (Aus) 73 73 68 78,
Michael Campbell (Nzl) 71 76 70 75, Mark Brown (Nzl) 75 67 73 77, Mu Hu (Chn) 73
69 71 79, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 73 73 76, Ross McGowan 71 74 75 72

293 Marcus Both (Aus) 73 74 72 74, Ross Fisher 72 73 74 74, Simon Yates 74 73
71 75, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 74 74 72

294 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 73 71 75 75, Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 75 71 70 78, Hendrik
Buhrmann (Rsa) 71 75 71 77, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 75 74 74, Phillip Price 73 73 78
70, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 70 69 76 79, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 73 78 71, Barry
Lane 74 71 73 76

295 Gary Murphy 74 73 73 75

296 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 72 73 72 79, Adam Blyth (Aus) 74 70 73
79

297 Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 73 75 78, Scott Barr (Aus) 72 74 76 75

298 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 68 76 77 77, Keith Horne (Rsa) 77 70 75 76

299 Chao Li (Chn) 71 72 75 81

300 Richard Finch 72 75 78 75, Wook-Soon Kang (Kor) 74 72 79 75, Richard Lee
(Can) 70 75 74 81, Mong-nan Hsu (Tpe) 73 74 77 76

305 Julio Zapata (Arg) 73 72 76 84