Darren Clarke was philosophical about missing out on winning the British Open at Royal Lytham. The Dungannon man was David Duval's closest challenger until a double bogey six on the 17th hole cost him outright second place. Clarke had to settle for a final round 70 and a six-way tie for third.
"I hit the ball really nicely all week and today was no exception. I got myself into contention for the tournament on the back nine and hardly missed a shot but the putter didn't quite work as I would have liked. Even on the 17th where I took a double bogey I didn't really hit a bad shot. I hit a low hard draw and thought it was good and I was disappointed when I saw it in the bunker. I hit it too well. If I got it on the fairway there I might have had a birdie opportunity," said Clarke.
"I didn't quite make the most of my chances. The roar and shouting from the crowd was fantastic, I was trying to give them something louder to cheer. I started with a double bogey on the first hole (on Thursday) and made another on the 71st hole. We all want to get ourselves in the shake-up the back nine on Sunday in a major and I managed to do that. I gave myself opportunities, unfortunately things just didn't go my way," he said.
Clarke took encouragement from the way in which he managed to control his often fragile temperament. "I've proved to myself that I can play under that sort of pressure around the back nine. Mentally it was very good today. I was very much in control of what I was trying to do. I got a couple of bad breaks on the 17th but that's links golf. You have to take the good with the bad. Joint third is a good result. I'm very pleased with how I've played. I wanted to give myself a chance to win the tournament on Sunday and I did. I played well enough to give myself a chance to win but it didn't quite happen for me," said Clarke.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
