A final round 70 was enough for overnight leader Darren Clarke to take home the Claret Jug, the Northern Irishman winning by 3 from American pair Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.
Although the 42 year old from Dungannon eventually negotiated Royal St. George's final holes at a canter, he was made to sweat for his victory, notably by the evergreen Mickelson who defied the tricky conditions to storm round the front 9 in just 30 shots. "Lefty"'s putter was red-hot, the statistics showed 8 putts after 7 holes but inevitably he could not sustain that form past the turn. An uncharacteristic miss on the 11th prompted a flurry of dropped shots and Mickelson, who had closed to within one, would eventually shoot a 2 under par 68.
What of Dustin Johnson then? The big-hitter from South Carolina is in danger of landing himself with the "nearly man" tag in major championships. For the third time in a little over 2 years he went into the final group on Sunday with a very real chance of winning. He stayed in touch until a disastrous 7 at the 14th. His time will surely come.
While all this was going on around him Clarke played the same sensible golf that he had put together all week and seemed to relish being back in contention. The former Ryder Cup player had suggested some form coming into the championship having claimed his first European Tour title for three years in May, as he won the Iberdrola Open in Mallorca.
Much like the man billed as favourite coming into this championship, Rory McIlroy, Clarke has broken a host of records with his first major win. Whereas McIlroy's success at Congressional made him the youngest winner of the US Open sine 1923, Clarke becomes the oldest Open Champion since 1967 when 44 year old Roberto di Vicenzo triumphed. He also won the Claret Jug for the first time after 20 years of trying, also a record.
His win means manager Andrew "Chubby" Chandler can now celebrate 3 wins out of 3 in this year's majors. Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and McIlroy are both part of Chandler's stable. And with world number 2 Lee Westwood, so disappointed not to make the weekend at Sandwich, also on Chandler's books, you would not bet against him completing a clean sweep.
The major ultimately goes to the man who played the best golf over 4 days and in Darren Clarke the R&A have a most worthy champion.
Patrick Kendrick
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