Clarke implausibly shoots final-round 76
Updated: April 18, 2005, 3:25 PM ET
By Ron Sirak | Golf World
One of the truly compelling things about golf is that when the wheels come off there is no place to hide. You can't call in a new pitcher, you can't bring in a substitute off the bench, and you can't try to make up for a poor shooting touch by focusing on playing defense or concentrating on rebounding.
AP Photo/Mary Ann ChastainClarke birdied four of his first five holes in Sunday's final round ... and still shot a 76.
In golf, you have to stand up and hit the next shot. The history of the game is littered with guys and gals looking for a place to hide. There wasArnold Palmer playing the final nine holes of regulation at the 1966 U.S. Open in 39 strokes, squandering a seven-shot lead. There was Helen Alfredsson leading the 1994 U.S. Women's Open by seven strokes through 44 holes then playing the next 18 holes in 85 shots. And there was the 78 in the final round of the 1996 Masters by Greg Norman that turned a six-stroke lead into a five-shot deficit.
Sunday's closing round of the MCI Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, S.C., was hip-deep with examples of guys who likely wanted to scream, "Take me out coach, I'm not ready to play." How about Jose Maria Olazabal whiffing in a bunker on No. 13 on his way to a triple bogey? How about the bogey-bogey-double bogey stretch by Darren Clarke beginning at No. 6 that turned a final-round lead of four strokes into what was a one-shot deficit at the time? And how about the fact that Peter Lonard, the man with whom Clarke was supposedly dueling, put on a putting performance that was absolutely painful to watch? But that is exactly what makes golf such a great spectator sport -- there is no place to hide. There is no one else who is going to come in and bail you out. When things are going wrong on the golf course it is the loneliest place in sports.
The tape of the last round of this MCI Heritage should be placed in a time capsule, encased in cement and not dug up for about a million years. That way we can make certain it doesn't inadvertently pop up on ESPN Classic and we have to watch it again. The only reason Lonard won this tournament was because somebody had to win. That's the rule. To say that Clarke handed the tournament to Lonard is certainly accurate, but Clarke was only returning the apparently unwanted gift presented to him earlier by the Australian, who won for the first time in the United States.
This tournament didn't so much create memorable moments as it did produce horrid images seared into the mind. The memory of Clarke's triple bogey on No. 13 when he banged a ball off a railroad tie and left it in the bunker was still being filed away in the ugly-image section of the brain when he followed it with a bogey on the next hole that could have been much worse except the last grain of wood on a railroad tie kept him from chipping over the green and into the water. Meanwhile, Lonard made a bogey of his own on the hole and no stroke was lost. The fact that both players made it to the final tee tied for the lead only set the stage for the final act of this absurdist comedy.
Clarke, hitting an eight-iron from the fairway, deposited his approach shot into the marsh left of the green, couldn't find the ball and finished with a double bogey to hold on for a piece of second place, two strokes behind Lonard. This finish was about as ugly as the red plaid jacket the winner has to take home. Just consider this: Lonard comes into the final round with a one-stroke lead over Clarke, shoots a 75 -- and adds a shot to his margin. Hey, these guys are good.
And to make it all the more bizarre just think of this: Clarke went from one stroke behind to four strokes ahead in the first five holes of Sunday's round. Instead of saying "Thank you very much," he then played the final 13 holes in 9 over.
Over the final 18 holes, Clarke had six pars, five birdies, four bogeys and three double bogeys. The fact that a guy can make birdies on four of the first five holes and shoot a 76 is a little bit mind-boggling, especially when the guy came into the tournament as the 17th-ranked player in the world.
Just consider this final tally for Clarke at Hilton Head: He made 23 birdies, 34 pars, 12 bogeys and three double bogeys. He played the first 36 holes in 130 strokes -- 12 under -- and the final 36 holes in 149 strokes -- 7 over That's a rather remarkable 19-stroke swing. If Clarke had been a pitcher, the manager would have come after him with the hook about the time he made the double bogey on No. 8. But this being golf he had to grind on, and on this day that meant playing the final 10 holes in 44 strokes.
Like a great pitcher in baseball, a great golfer learns how to win even when he does not have his good stuff. We saw it down the stretch last week when Tiger Woods was missing virtually every fairway on the back nine at Augusta National and still figured out how to win the Masters. Great players also figure out how to contain the damage when the wheels come off, as Woods did in the first round at the Masters when he took what could have been an 80 and turned it into a 74. It was that element of greatness -- the ability to patch it together when it is falling apart -- that Clarke was woefully lacking Sunday at Hilton Head. And this being golf, their was no relief pitcher to bail him out. The way Clarke responded to adversity could very well explain why one of the best British golfers currently in the thirty-something age group lacks a major championship on his résumé.
When it came time to grind he puffed on his cigar and watched his chances go up in smoke.
Ron Sirak is executive editor of Golf World magazine
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