Clarke opens season with 63 in Hawaii
Darren Clarke. Picture: Getty Images
Darren Clarke got 2021 off to a flying start when he opened with a nine-under 63 to lie a shot behind Retief Goosen in the Mitsubishi Championship at Hualalai Golf Club.
After breaking his duck on the PGA Tour Champions last year, winning November’s TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, the Dungannon man was forced to return to his base in the Bahamas as his visa had run out.
He missed the prestigious Charles Schwab Championship as a result but used his winter break to practice hard at the Abaco Club and came out firing on all cylinders yesterday, hitting all 18 greens in regulation as he fired an eagle and seven birdies in an immaculate round.
“I played nicely all day and holed a couple of long putts,” said Clarke, who birdied four of his last five holes. “I don't know how I'm going to play the next couple of days, but it's nice to open the season on the Champions Tour with 63. Anytime you shoot 63 it's good, but to do it at the start of the year is especially nice.”
Winning last year appears to have helped Clarke, who spent his off-season practicing hard with a group of friends in the Bahamas.
“Yeah, a little bit,” he said of the weight lifted off his shoulders. “That's why I come out here, I didn't come out here just to make up the numbers. I'm a competitor and I wanted to play well and I wanted to try and win. And it took me a while to get there, but you know, quite a few of the players out here gave me messages from everybody after I did win and that's how close we are out here.
“It was very obvious before I joined the Tour about how good they play and then even more obvious after I joined how good they play. You've got to play unbelievably well to win a tournament out here.
“I played really, really well in Boca and, as you say, it was a nice thing to actually break through and get my first win. Hopefully, I'll be able to manage a few more.”
Goosen made 10 birdies in his 62 to lead by a shot from Clarke with Scott Parel and Jerry Kelly tied for third after carding eight-under 64s.
