BOCA RATON, Fla. – It has been nine years since Darren Clarke had a victory toast, but he showed Sunday he still knows how to win and celebrate.
Clarke birdied the 18th hole to win the TimberTech Championship by a shot over defending champion Bernhard Langer and Jim Furyk. It was Clarke’s first victory since the 2011 British Open, and Clarke celebrated with a champagne toast outside the Broken Sound clubhouse.
“I haven’t had one of these in a while,” Clarke said. “I was drunk for a week the last time I won. I imagine I’ll wake up with a headache tomorrow.”
Clarke shot a 4-under 68 on The Old Course to finish at 17-under 199, edging defending champion Bernhard Langer (67) and Jim Furyk (68) by a stroke. Miguel Angel Jimenez (66-201) was fourth.
Clarke earned $300,000 for his first victory on the PGA Tour Champions in his 40th start. The Northern Ireland native won three PGA Tour titles, highlighted by his memorable win at Royal St. George’s just before his 43th birthday.
TIMBERTECH: Leaderboard
“I’ve had a lot of opportunities the last few years, so it’s great to finally win one,” Clarke said. “I wouldn’t be working this hard if I didn’t think I could still win.”
Clarke took advantage of rare mistakes by Hall of Famer Langer, a Boca Raton resident who was trying to win his 42nd career PGA Tour Champions title. Langer was leading at 17-under after 14 holes and hadn’t made a bogey all week on a course where he had already won twice.
Langer (67) then bogeyed two of his next three holes. He hit it in the water at the difficult 15th hole after an errant drive – he had to get up-and-down from the fairway to save bogey – and missed a short par putt at the 17th.
Langer birdied the 18th to finish at 16-under and force Clarke to birdie the par-5 18th to win. Langer remains four wins behind Hale Irwin’s career mark of 45 on the PGA Tour Champions.
“I got off to a good start with a birdie at the first and kept going,” Langer said “I didn’t drive the ball well and I could feel something wasn’t right with my swing and it showed up over and over. I made a great birdie at the end, but the swing just wasn’t quite where it needed to be.”
Furyk was trying to win for the third time in five starts on the PGA Tour Champions. He spent most of the back nine within a shot or two of the lead, but made one birdie on the last seven holes, a disappointing one at the 18th.
“I didn’t make a lot of putts,” Furyk said. “I was burning a lot of edges. At 18, I had a nice look for eagle from about 20 feet and thought I hit a great putt. I didn’t even sniff the hole. I probably missed it a good cup low and we just misread the putt.”
Clarke birdied three of his first seven holes Sunday and led at 16-under until he double-bogeyed the ninth hole after his drive went into the water. Clarke responded with birdies on the next two holes to remain in contention.
Had Clarke lost, no doubt he would have rued a one-stroke penalty he received Saturday for picking up his ball on the second hole, forgetting the field was no longer using preferred lies.
This was Clarke’s last chance to win this year. Because of visa issues, he has to be out of the country by Wednesday, meaning he will miss next week’s season-ending event in Phoenix.
He’ll take with him a nice parting gift – the TimberTech Championship trophy. And more time to celebrate.
“I would love to go and try and win again next week, but unfortunately that won’t be the case,” Clarke said. “I’m going to have to sit at the beach down in Abaco Club, drink some sea breezes and watch the boys on the big screen.
“When everybody makes a birdie, I’ll go cheer and have another sea breeze or a Kalik Light. It will be a little bit of both.”
[lawrence-related id=778073016,778072997,778073003]