US Tour news: Darren Clarke dropped six shots on the last six holes on another disastrous day for the Dungannon man as Australian Peter Lonard won the MCI Heritage Classic at Hilton Head, South Carolina yesterday.
Clarke started the day a shot behind the Australian on 10-under-par, but he came out on fire on the Harbour town course, birdieing the opening three holes and the fifth to suddenly be four shots clear.
But bogeys at the sixth and seventh and a double bogey at the eighth suddenly saw Clarke back to a shot behind Lonard, who had bogeyed the first two holes, birdied the eighth and then immediately dropped a shot at the ninth.
However, worse was to follow for Clarke on the back nine. After a double bogey on the 13th he dropped two more shots on the the next two holes.
But he was still tied for the lead playing the last but another wayward shot cost him a double bogey as he handed the title to Lonard.
Five-times winner Davis Love III returned a 71 to join Clarke in a tie for second, level with fellow Americans Jim Furyk (69) and Billy Andrade (68).
On Saturday Clarke had suffered a disastrous third day, after leading by six shots at halfway. He followed two successive 65s with a two-over-par 73 while Lonard enjoyed a 66.
"Obviously I'm disappointed with the way I played," Clarke said on Saturday. "I didn't swing it good and I lost my feel on the greens completely. I kept bashing them six, seven feet past and missing the ones coming back.
"But I'm only one behind going into the last day, so I'm looking forward to it. It's not a bad place to be and hopefully I can play better."
Clarke had just two bogeys in the first two rounds but stumbled to four on the front nine and two on the back, finally surrendering the lead to Lonard with a six on the par-five 15th.
Lonard followed Thursday's nine-under-par 62 with seven bogeys in a three-over 74 on Friday, but he recovered his sparkle with six birdies and could have been leading by more if not for a bogey on the 18th, his only mishap of the day.
"Tee to green was pretty solid and I held my putting together, which was good," Lonard said.
"My chipping was also far better. When I missed the greens I got up and down."
Graeme McDowell did well to make the cut on Friday, but shot 75 78 over the weekend to finish at the bottom of the field.
* Wendy Ward claimed her first LPGA Tour victory in four years at the Takefuji Classic in Las Vegas. Ward held at least a share of the lead for all three rounds, and her five-under-par 67 on the final day gave her a three-round total of 16-under 200 - two shots clear of Mexico's Lorena Ochoa.
"I kind of turned it on the last few holes and hit some really good iron shots coming in," Ward said. "I'm just tickled with the way I played."
Ochoa was again on fire, following a tournament-record 63 on Friday with a seven-under 65. "I am pretty happy. It would have almost been too much to win this week but I was close," Ochoa said. Ward was just as solid, carding another bogey-free round and answering Ochoa's birdie at the 16th with a 10-foot birdie of her own to help ensure her first LPGA victory since the 2001 Wendy's Championship.
HeritageScores
FINAL TOTALS
(USA unless stated, par 71)
277 - P Lonard (Aus) 62 74 66 75.
279 - Darren Clarke (NIrl) 65 65 73 76 , J Furyk 71 68 71 69, B Andrade 72 69 70 68, D Love III 69 70 69 71.
280 - T Levet (Fra) 64 74 73 69, S Ames 71 69 69 71, R Pampling 70 69 68 73.
281 - N O'Hern 68 71 73 69.
282 - S Verplank 73 70 70 69, M Allen 71 70 71 70, M Kuchar 72 68 71 71.
283 - P Perez 72 70 71 70, B Bryant 72 68 70 73, L Roberts 71 70 68 74 JM Olazabal (Spa) 69 71 69 74.
285 - D Hart 71 69 74 71, F Funk 72 74 69 70, G Owen 70 72 72 71, N Price (Zim) 69 71 72 73.
287 - T Hamilton 71 69 76 71, B Estes 69 74 72 72, B Tway 72 70 72 73.
288 - J Kaye 70 74 74 70, P Jacobsen 74 70 74 70, B Davis 71 76 70 71, C Beckman 68 71 77 72, C Pavin 73 73 70 72, D Chopra 73 73 69 73, B Faxon 72 75 67 74.
289 - B Bateman 69 73 77 70, P Sheehan 66 70 80 73, G Ogilvy 71 69 76 73, W Austin 69 70 76 74, B Jobe 69 73 70 77.
290 - D Howell 71 72 75 72, S Allan 71 72 75 72. T Fischer 1 F 6 71 73 74 72, D Frost 2 F 6 68 75 74 73, B Mayfair 3 F 6 73 73 70 74, S Jones 4 F 6 71 70 74 75.
291 - V Taylor 71 75 74 71, C Stadler 76 70 75 70, J Williamson 70 75 71 75.
292 - J Senden 71 73 77 71, J Kelly 71 76 73 72, B Crane 71 76 73 72, S Cink 71 73 75 73, P Azinger 73 69 77 73, J Parnevik 70 77 72 73, J Sluman 73 73 73 73, Z Johnson 72 73 73 74, T Clark (RSA) 72 73 73 74, L Glover 73 73 72 74, J Rose 73 73 72 74, B Snedeker 71 73 70 78.
293 - J Ogilvie 71 75 77 70, T Purdy 73 74 76 70, R Damron 70 73 78 72, M Dawson 68 78 74 73.
294 - D Edwards 73 71 77 73.
295 - K Jones 75 71 76 73, M Calcavecchia 72 74 72 77.
296 - J Rollins 74 72 77 73, J Haas 7 F 12 72 72 74 78.
297 - T Armour III 74 71 77 75 69.
298 - R Mediate 72 72 79 75.,
299 - F Langham 7 F 15 77 69 75 78, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 75 71 75 78.
300 - I Poulter (Eng) 72 73 81 74.
301 - D Tewell 73 72 78 79.
302 - L Westwood (Eng) 73 72 78 79.
