Clarke set for beers and Ryder Cup viewing after third Champions Tour win
Darren Clarke
Darren Clarke won the Sanford International to claim his third PGA TOUR Champions win of the season when he beat KJ Choi with a birdie on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff.
The former Open champion (53) closed with a five-under 65 at Minnehaha Country Club in North Dakota, finishing with birdie three at the 18th to match Choi and Steve Flesch at 12-under 198. Scores
"It's nice to get back in the winner's circle again," Clarke said. "In the playoff you never know what's going to happen, anybody can make birdie and luckily it was my day today."
Clarke won the TimberTech Championship in November for his first PGA TOUR Champions title and took the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in January in his next start.
"I've really enjoyed my time here in Sioux Falls," Clarke said. "The fans have been brilliant. I've had maybe a little beverage with one or two of them in the past, so it's been nice to have that atmosphere and that support. It's always wonderful."
Flesch, who was eliminated with a bogey on the first extra trip down 18, also bogeyed the hole in regulation for a 66.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, the 2020 winner, was two strokes back along with Rod Pampling (69).
US. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker (67) was 9 under. Stricker will lead the United States against Europe next week at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
Retief Goosen (69) was 8 under with Alex Cejka (71), John Senden (65) and Steven Alker (67).
“it's been incredible, Clarke said of his season. “It was nice to get my break-through win in Boca last year and then the Tournament of Champions, and to win again, I've been working so hard.
“I had a chance at the one that I really, really wanted in the middle of the summer there, the British Senior Open, and I had a chance there, didn't quite get it done.
“It's nice then to come along to win again. I have two weeks off down in Abaco, down home. Sit in front of my TV, I'll watch every shot of the Ryder Cup, I'll really enjoy it, and I may have a beer or two to go along with it.”
Asked how many beers, he quipped: “Probably 10.”
As for the Ryder Cup, where he was losing captain at Hazeltine in 2916, he said: “It was brilliant. It's a huge honour to be a Ryder Cup captain, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time.
“My American captain, Davis Love, has been a great friend of mine for many, many years, and still is. That particular week the American team played really well and the best team won.
“I think Whistling Straits, I've played there a couple times now, I led the PGA there, it's a wonderful golf course, it's a tough golf course. It's going to be a brilliant match play golf course, one of the most exciting ones I think we'll see in a long time because if your opponent hits it in the rubbish or hits it in trouble, there's no easy bailout at Whistling Straits. You've still got to hit a golf shot.
“So from a viewing point of view, I think it's going to be sensational. I'm not going to miss a shot of it.
“The Ryder Cup, there's nothing like a Ryder Cup. It's the ultimate. It's the ultimate amount of pressure, the ultimate feeling of this is where your golf game is at.
“If you're on that team, you deserve to be on that team. It's an intimidating place, that first tee, but it's a brilliant -- it's a weird thing to describe, you can't really describe it.
“So one of the legends of the European Tour, a guy called Sam Torrance, who was a Ryder Cup captain himself, before I played in my first one he said to me, ‘The playing in the Ryder Cup is like having your first child; until you do it, you never understand what it's all about.’
“That was as good an analogy as I've ever heard of what it's like in the Ryder Cup. It's both intimidating, exhilarating, it's everything, and at Whistling Straits this year you've got two brilliant teams. I think it's going to be really, really close.”
Clarke took his season’s earnings to $1.73m to move up to ninth in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, leaving him some $800,000 behind leader Jim Furyk.
“I don't know, I'm a little bit far back,” he said if his chances of winning wins he money title. “Those guys that are up on top of there have played consistently well. I've played well for quite a few weeks, but not quite enough.
“You know, I'll still go out and try and win again before the end of the year and try to get myself in contention, but I'm probably a little bit too far back for it in all fairness.
“For me, I'm really enjoying the challenge of being out here. I want to play on a Sunday afternoon where every shot on the back nine makes a difference and every shot matters and the only way that happens is when you're in contention.”
