Reasons to be cheerful for Darren
Clarke but not for Justin Rose
FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
A week after going back to Northern Ireland to mark his 40th birthday, Darren Clarke might have more reasons to celebrate on Sunday and next weekend.
Clarke takes a three-stroke lead over Swede Henrik Stenson into the final round of the KLM Open in Holland, and his performance could easily earn him a Ryder Cup call-up from Nick Faldo next Sunday - perhaps at the expense of Colin Montgomerie.
But while he smiled after a joint best-of-the-day 66 lifted him to 12 under par, Justin Rose was furious with himself after falling into the pack.
Eighth in the points race, Rose flew from America to try to clinch a Ryder Cup debut and hoped he might be able to head straight back across the Atlantic for the second leg of the FedEx Cup play-offs.
However, he might have to stay for the final qualifying event - the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles - and after three-putting from inside 15 feet on Kennemer's last green, his anger boiled over.
"That was pathetic - just pathetic. A load of old rubbish," said the world number 12.
A one-over-par round of 71 left Rose down in 24th place on three under and the two players immediately below him on the Ryder Cup points table, Oliver Wilson and Soren Hansen, are five under and six under.
Clarke had moved into a share of the halfway lead with a second-round 64, and more birdies on the fourth, sixth and seventh holes today swept him clear.
The inspiration of Europe's 2006 victory - Clarke claimed three wins out of three just six weeks after his wife Heather died of breast cancer - did bogey the difficult eighth and saw the gap closed from three to one, but he responded by picking up more strokes on the 12th and 13th.
Stenson, already certain of his cup place after finishing third in The Open and fourth at the US PGA, had a 68, while England's John Bickerton came home in 29 for a 66 which put him third.
Marc Warren is putting together some useful scores, running into form at just the right time for defence of the title at Gleneagles next week.
Clarke but not for Justin Rose
FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
A week after going back to Northern Ireland to mark his 40th birthday, Darren Clarke might have more reasons to celebrate on Sunday and next weekend.
Clarke takes a three-stroke lead over Swede Henrik Stenson into the final round of the KLM Open in Holland, and his performance could easily earn him a Ryder Cup call-up from Nick Faldo next Sunday - perhaps at the expense of Colin Montgomerie.
But while he smiled after a joint best-of-the-day 66 lifted him to 12 under par, Justin Rose was furious with himself after falling into the pack.
Eighth in the points race, Rose flew from America to try to clinch a Ryder Cup debut and hoped he might be able to head straight back across the Atlantic for the second leg of the FedEx Cup play-offs.
However, he might have to stay for the final qualifying event - the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles - and after three-putting from inside 15 feet on Kennemer's last green, his anger boiled over.
"That was pathetic - just pathetic. A load of old rubbish," said the world number 12.
A one-over-par round of 71 left Rose down in 24th place on three under and the two players immediately below him on the Ryder Cup points table, Oliver Wilson and Soren Hansen, are five under and six under.
Clarke had moved into a share of the halfway lead with a second-round 64, and more birdies on the fourth, sixth and seventh holes today swept him clear.
The inspiration of Europe's 2006 victory - Clarke claimed three wins out of three just six weeks after his wife Heather died of breast cancer - did bogey the difficult eighth and saw the gap closed from three to one, but he responded by picking up more strokes on the 12th and 13th.
Stenson, already certain of his cup place after finishing third in The Open and fourth at the US PGA, had a 68, while England's John Bickerton came home in 29 for a 66 which put him third.
Marc Warren is putting together some useful scores, running into form at just the right time for defence of the title at Gleneagles next week.
Labels: EUROPEAN TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Saturday, August 23, 2008
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