Darren Clarke wins BMW

Open, his first win since

wife's death

Shanghai, April 27: Irish eyes were smiling once again for Darren Clarke when he claimed an emotional victory with a heroic final-hole birdie at the BMW Asian Open today.
The Ulsterman, pictured right, drained a 30-foot putt on the 18th hole to beat a gallant Robert-Jan Derksen of the Netherlands by one shot and end his three-year title drought at Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club.
It marked a welcome return to the winner’s circle for Clarke, who has endured a difficult past few years following the death of his wife Heather through cancer in 2006 and a dip in form.
Clarke carded a final round of one-over-par 73 in tough conditions for an eight-under-par 280 aggregate to secure his 11th career victory on the European Tour and his first since the 2005 Taiheiyo Masters in Japan.
Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen-tang holed a 25-foot birdie on the 18th for a 72 to earn a share of third place, three behind the winner as he finished as the top Asian in the US$2.3 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and China Golf Association.
“This one is very special,” said a jubilant Clarke, who screamed in delight after his putt disappeared into the cup at the last. “This is the toughest one of all of them and it’s nice to get back up to where I feel my golf should be. It’s nice to win again and it’s a really, really good feeling.”
In what is his maiden visit to China, Clarke, the third round leader, dropped a bogey on the third before recovering with birdies on the fifth and 10th to stay in front of playing partner Derksen, who also signed off with a 73.
But three bogeys over a four-hole stretch from the 14th opened the door for Derksen but Clarke had the final say and holed his winning putt which looked as if he had help from the golfing gods.
“Sometimes things are meant to happen, sometimes not. I guess today was my day,” said Clarke, who pocketed US$383,330.
“I was thinking of getting it to the hole (on the 18th) and I wasn’t going to lag it up. I putted nicely this week, and wanted to give myself a chance on the last and I hit a solid putt. It was tracking six foot out and sometimes it’s meant to go in. My boys Tyrone and Conner would have liked that putt more than I did.”
Derksen fought bravely, coming back from being two shots behind with four holes remaining to draw level with some solid putting. But he could only watch in amazement when Clarke rammed home his final putt in front of a rapturous crowd.
“Darren holed a good putt and today is his day, his luck I guess,” said Derksen, who was chasing a third career victory.
“I was actually quite lucky to draw level after 17. My up and down (for par) on 18 was very good and I don’t make that quite often as it was a very difficult chip. You always think that it (Clarke’s putt) can go in. I saw the speed and if it goes by, it’ll be four foot past but it went in, end of story,” added the Dutchman
Derksen fell victim to the par three 14th once again, dropping a costly double bogey after sending a chip into the water to fall two behind. But it wasn’t smooth sailing for Clarke as he stuttered home which kept Derksen in the title race.
“I had a bad lie on 14 and it was a difficult shot. I just hit it and made five in the end. It’s not been my best hole. It was a great match though. He’s a great winner,” said Derksen.
Chinese Taipei’s Lin holed a long birdie putt which earned him joint third place on 283.
Australian legend Greg Norman signed off with a 71 for a share of 14th place on 288.

International website: www.bmw-golfsport.com
Chinese website: www.bmw.com.cn

FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
280 Darren Clarke 71 69 67 73
281 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 69 69 73
283 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 75 68 69, Robert Dinwiddie 70 73 66 74, Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 71 71 69 72
284 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 76 72 68
285 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 72 74 67, John Bickerton 71 75 69 70
286 Scott Hend (Aus) 69 74 71 72, Peter Lawrie 72 74 70 70
287 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 70 72 73, Oliver Wilson 68 74 74 71, Paul Broadhurst 71 73 71 72
288 Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 75 70 72, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 71 71 73 73, Scott Strange (Aus) 71 75 70 72, Greg Norman (Aus) 71 73 73 71
289 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 75 69 69 76, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 73 69 73, Iain Steel (Mal) 71 74 71 73, Miles Tunnicliff 71 70 73 75, Simon Wakefield 73 72 75 69
290 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 76 70 76, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 74 70 74 72, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 74 72 67 77, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 67 74 72 77
291 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 75 72 73 71, Young-Woo Nam (Kor) 72 73 72 74, Chris Rodgers 71 73 71 76, David Frost (Rsa) 72 75 72 72, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 73 74 71 73, Rory McIlroy 73 73 69 76, Paul Lawrie 75 72 71 73, Sam Little 71 76 70 74
292 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 70 74 72 76, David Gleeson (Aus) 73 73 68 78, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 71 76 70 75, Mark Brown (Nzl) 75 67 73 77, Mu Hu (Chn) 73 69 71 79, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 73 73 76, Ross McGowan 71 74 75 72
293 Marcus Both (Aus) 73 74 72 74, Ross Fisher 72 73 74 74, Simon Yates 74 73 71 75, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 74 74 72
294 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 73 71 75 75, Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 75 71 70 78, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 71 75 71 77, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 75 74 74, Phillip Price 73 73 78 70, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 70 69 76 79, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 73 78 71, Barry Lane 74 71 73 76
295 Gary Murphy 74 73 73 75
296 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 72 73 72 79, Adam Blyth (Aus) 74 70 73 79
297 Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 73 75 78, Scott Barr (Aus) 72 74 76 75
298 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 68 76 77 77, Keith Horne (Rsa) 77 70 75 76
299 Chao Li (Chn) 71 72 75 81
300 Richard Finch 72 75 78 75, Wook-Soon Kang (Kor) 74 72 79 75, Richard Lee (Can) 70 75 74 81, Mong-nan Hsu (Tpe) 73 74 77 76
305 Julio Zapata (Arg) 73 72 76 84