Sunday, July 17, 2011

SANDWICH, England — Having grown up on the links of Northern Ireland, Darren Clarke took to British Open golf like a kite to wind. He had made 15 of 19 cuts at the Open coming into this week. He looks forward to deplorable weather. Ski caps? Please. Clarke wears a visor even if it's raining sideways.

Phil Mickelson took to the British Open like a cat to water. He was 85 over par with only a single top-10 finish, a third in 2004, before this week.

The 140th British Open at Royal St. George's came down to two veterans who entertained viewers by trading blows during an epic front nine, which included a brief run by the flashy Dustin Johnson, and ultimately came down to a player, Clarke, who again proved that steady almost always beats stylish. Clarke made a series of clutch putts, enjoyed a few kind bounces and never flinched to shoot a final-round 70 for a five-under total and a three-shot victory over Mickelson and Johnson.

Mickelson went on a torrid run on the front nine to send a bolt of electricity through the tournament. After taking a pedestrian 31 putts in each of his first three rounds, he one-putted six of his first seven greens, including a 22-foot eagle putt on the par-5 seventh hole. He made the turn in 30, tying Clarke at five under par.

But Clarke answered with an eagle of his own on the seventh, and just as Mickelson came back to earth after his front-nine 30 in the final round of the 2009 Masters, he faltered again on the back nine at St. George's. After making another birdie on the par-4 10th to get to six under, one off the lead, he quick-hit a 30-inch par putt on the par-3 11th hole and missed it.

Gusty winds hinder putting at St. George's, and short putts had bedeviled Mickelson all week. He missed a one-footer Thursday, and the botched par try on 11 Sunday seemed to derail him. He bogeyed 13, missed a seven-foot birdie try on the par-5 14th, and bogeyed 15 from a fairway pot bunker. Just like that, he'd gone from six to three under, a shot behind to four behind. Johnson, who started the day four under, bogeyed No. 3 and No. 6, both par 3s, to fall to two under. Birdies on 7, 10 and 12 got him to five under, but it was all but over when he hit his second shot out of bounds to double the par-5 14th.

All week, Clarke, 42, looked like the best player from tee to green. He was the only player to shoot three rounds in the 60s heading into Sunday. The only question mark was his putting; without a handful of short misses during his third-round 69, he would have gone into Sunday with more than a one-shot lead.

"Growing up in Northern Ireland, he can hit a lot of shots in this kind of weather," Edoardo Molinari (78 Sunday, 17-over total) said well before the leaders teed off. "If he can putt decently today, I think he's going to win."

After a scratchy drive off the first, Clarke reached the green in two but was miles from the pin. His first putt missed badly, leaving him 14 feet for par. Uh-oh. Clarke rammed the putt into the back of the cup, a sign of things to come.

Clarke not only helped himself with calm nerves on the greens, he got a kind bounce or two, most notably with his low-running second shot on the par-4 ninth hole, which bounded over a menacing fairway bunker and onto the green.

Coming on the heels of U.S. Open victories by Graeme McDowell in 2010 and Rory McIlroy this year, Clarke's win is the third in the last six majors by players from Northern Ireland. Clarke has always been an enigmatic talent, a player whose appetites for the finer things — luxury cars, imported cigars — sometimes seemed to take precedence over his golf.

When he dusted Tiger Woods to win the 2000 WGC-Accenture Match Play, the runner-up didn't mince words. "Darren has the ability to obviously play great golf," Woods said. "It's just dependent on how dedicated he is to his work ethic."

When Clarke's wife, Heather, came down with breast cancer, his game understandably slid even further down the priority list. She died in 2006, and Clarke, a captain's pick, played with a heavy heart at the Ryder Cup at the K Club later that year, earning three points to lead an emotional European rout. One of the enduring images from the event was U.S. captain Tom Lehman embracing an emotionally exhausted Clarke after Clarke had won his singles match.

He began to piece his life back together, winning twice in 2008, and recently moved from outside London back to Portrush to get his sons, Tyrone and Conor, better schooling. He's also closer to his fiancé.

At 3:45 p.m. local time, a hard rain began to fall, forcing players to scramble to put on their rain gear. Mickelson took cover in a nearby enclosure, and Clarke waited to hit his tee shot on the difficult eighth hole. Within a minute or so the storm had passed. As expected, weather was the story all week, and the rain returned with a vengeance at 4:10, then gave way again to a patch of sun.

Enough Americans had got into contention that Sunday took on nationalist overtones. Dating back to Phil Mickelson's 2010 Masters victory, non-Americans had won five straight majors, the longest drought for U.S. players in the modern Grand Slam era. Four of the top four players in the World Ranking were from Europe. At least a few Yanks were getting tired of hearing about their deficiencies.

"American golfers aren't worried about American golf," said Hunter Mahan, who at four over missed the cut but would watch the ending on TV as he awaited the players' charter flight to Vancouver and the Canadian Open. "We'll get ours. It's not fair to hold American golf to a different standard. That's not the way it works anymore. It's a global game, with great players from all over the place."

"I'll be rooting for an American to win," Stewart Cink said after signing for a 71 and a nine-over-par total, before the leaders began. "I don't care which one." The wind blew slightly harder Sunday than it had the day before, but in the same direction and without the rain. St. George's wind can feel different from the wind at other Open courses because the dunes leads to more gusts.

That's Cink's theory, anyway. Indeed, Mickelson's cap flew off as he was hitting his tee shot to the 169-yard sixth hole. He still managed to find the green and rolled in his 25-foot birdie putt to get to three-under for the day, three under for the tournament, and just three shots behind Clarke.

When Clarke couldn't reach the 475-yard, par-4 fourth hole in two, and bogeyed, Mickelson was just two shots back. Mickelson reached the 560-yard, par-5 seventh hole in two shots and drained a 22-foot eagle putt.

At five under through seven holes, Mickelson had tied Clarke at the top.

St. George's has suffered from arguably the worst press of all the courses on the Open rota, but the quirky layout with holes running in all directions earned generally positive reviews this week. Only the par-4 fourth hole drew criticism Saturday, when the weather prevented some players from reaching the green in two.

"I think it's fantastic," Cink said. "I love this course. It's difficult to get to, but of all the Open courses, it's one of the most fun to play."

Copyright 2011 Cameron Morfit, Golf Magazine