I was personally so thrilled to see Darren Clarke keep his nerve to lift the famous trophy on the 18th green at Royal St George’s yesterday evening.
I think the old saying goes: “Nice guys finish last” – well Tom winning The Apprentice and Darren winning The Open has certainly knocked that theory clean out of the water!
Darren has had to battle through some incredibly hard times, which anyone who has lost somebody close to them can relate to. There weren’t many dry eyes among the golfing community yesterday as they watched the Northern Irishman walking down the 18th fairway and struggling to keep his own emotions in check.
With his parents watching course-side and his two boys watching at home, he did remarkably well to keep his composure under physical and emotional pressure to hold his nerve and lift the trophy at the 20th time of asking.
It capped an intriguing four days of golf where Darren was the best player on the course, and had his penultimate putt of the tournament not finished just a couple of inches short of the 18th hole, he would have carded four rounds of under 70, a great achievement in tricky Links conditions.
You can read a lovely article and great interview with Darren, who pocketed £900,000 as the tournament winner and a cool £2m from his sponsors, in the Sun Online.
Click here to watch a video montage of the best shots of the tournament.
Check out the final Leaderboard by clicking here.
