Clarke falls short as Lonard takes Heritage
He had led by six shots at halfway following two successive six-under-par 65s.
However, a 73 on day three saw him enter the final round one behind Peter Lonard and a closing 76 allowed the Australian to win by two shots.
Clarke, who had been bidding for his third PGA Tour title, had led by two with six holes to play but dropped six shots over the closing stretch, including a double-bogey at the par-four last where his approach was lost in mud well short of the green.Lonard also suffered over the final 18 holes with a 75 but held on for his first victory on the PGA Tour thanks to an overall score of seven under 277.
Billy Andrade (69), Jim Furyk (69) and Davis Love (71) all made up ground on the final day to join Clarke in second.
Meanwhile, Peter Hanson, who hunts anything from ducks to deer to wild boar for a hobby, discovered what it was like to be the hunted yesterday.
But at the end of it, the 27-year-old beat fellow Swede Peter Gustafsson at the first play-off hole to win the Jazztel Spanish Open at San Roque - his first European Tour victory.
The pair tied on the eight under par mark of 280, but when they returned to the 18th hole Gustafsson, winner of the qualifying school on the same course in November, pulled his approach badly left.
He played as good a pitch over the bunker as he could hope for, but it ran 12 feet past and, after Hanson had chipped superbly to within inches of the cup, his putt to stay alive lipped out.
The title brought with it a cheque for £190,614 - and made Hanson the circuit’s latest Euro millionaire.
The former amateur international had been joint leader after the first round, one ahead at halfway and two clear with 18 holes to go, so the win was achieved the hard way.
“You want to put yourself in these stressful situations and to pull it off is a great feeling,” said Hanson, who closed with a 71 after lipping out from 30 feet on the final green.
“I was a bit nervous on the last couple of holes and in the play-off Peter wanted to chat coming down the fairway, but I wanted just to keep my mind on what I was doing.
“I think he got the hint!”
Gustafsson, five behind at the start, had matched the low round of the week with his 66 and although he just failed to win what was only his 22nd tour event it was an enormous step forward for him.
His world ranking was 578th - Hanson’s was 228 - and his previous best finish was 14th.
South African Hennie Otto was joint leader after an eagle on the long ninth, but his very next shot was hooked out of bounds and he fell out of the reckoning by also double-bogeying the 15th.
Otto’s closing three did at least rescue a share of third place with Dubliner Paul Lawrie, who birdied the last two for a 69.
Welshman Stephen Dodd, who began the season with his first tour victory at the Volvo China Open and then was joint second behind Ernie Els in the Dubai Desert Classic, rose from 31st to joint fifth with the other 66 of the week. It takes him to fourth place on the Order of Merit.
lFor the second year in succession, weather conditions disrupted the Munster Youths Open Amateur Championship.
Yesterday at Lahinch, despite the fact that the Castle Course withstood the overnight rain which continued throughout the morning, the final 36 holes had to be reduced to one round from a shotgun start.
The winner was 16-year-old Brian Keenan (The Heath) who finished six under par to win by two strokes from Paul O’Hanlon (The Curragh), a youth international who is a student at Maynooth University.
The leading Munster players were David McLoughlin (Woodstock, Ennis) who had led after the first day but dropped three shots in the final round. Kenny McGarry (Bandon), who took four over par on Friday, finished five under for the last two rounds on the same margin as Seamus Power (West Waterford) who dropped one shot on Friday and, like McGarry, had a 68 on Saturday and finished level par yesterday.
:
277 Peter Lonard (Aus) 62 74 66 75
279 Billy Andrade 72 69 70 68, Jim Furyk 71 68 71 69, Darren Clarke (Irl) 65 65 73 76, Davis Love III 69 70 69 71
280 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 69 68 73, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 69 69 71, Thomas Levet (Fra) 64 74 73 69
281 Nick O’Hern (Aus) 68 71 73 69
282 Scott Verplank 73 70 70 69, Matt Kuchar 72 68 71 71, Michael Allen 71 70 71 70
283 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 69 71 69 74, Pat Perez 72 70 71 70, Loren Roberts 71 70 68 74, Bart Bryant 72 68 70 73
284 Jimmy Walker 68 71 71 74
285 Greg Owen (Eng) 70 72 72 71, Fred Funk 72 74 69 70, Nick Price (Zim) 69 71 72 73, Dudley Hart 71 69 74 71
287 Bob Tway 72 70 72 73, Bob Estes 69 74 72 72, Todd Hamilton 71 69 76 71
288 Corey Pavin 73 73 70 72, Jonathan Kaye 70 74 74 70, Brad Faxon 72 75 67 74, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 73 69 73, Brian Davis (Eng) 71 76 70 71, Cameron Beckman 68 71 77 72, Peter Jacobsen 74 70 74 70
289 Joey Snyder III 74 67 69 79, Brandt Jobe 69 73 70 77, Patrick Sheehan 66 70 80 73, Woody Austin 69 70 76 74, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 71 69 76 73, Brian Bateman 69 73 77 70
290 David Frost (Rsa) 68 75 74 73, Billy Mayfair 73 73 70 74, Steve Jones 71 70 74 75, David Howell (Eng) 71 72 75 72, Steve Allan (Aus) 71 72 75 72, Todd Fischer 71 73 74 72
291 Jay Williamson 70 75 71 75, Vaughn Taylor 71 75 74 71, Craig Stadler 76 70 75 70
292 Justin Rose (Eng) 73 73 72 74, Jerry Kelly 71 76 73 72, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 70 77 72 73, Ben Crane 71 76 73 72, Brandt Snedeker 71 73 70 78, Jeff Sluman 73 73 73 73, Tim Clark (Rsa) 72 73 73 74, Stewart Cink 71 73 75 73, Paul Azinger 73 69 77 73, Lucas Glover 73 73 72 74, Zach Johnson 72 73 73 74, John Senden (Aus) 71 73 77 71
293 Ted Purdy 73 74 76 70, Joe Ogilvie 71 75 77 70, Marco Dawson 68 78 74 73, Robert Damron 70 73 78 72
294 David Edwards 73 71 77 73
295 Mark Calcavecchia 72 74 72 77, Kent Jones 75 71 76 73
296 John Rollins 74 72 77 73, Jay Haas 72 72 74 78
297 Tommy Armour III 74 71 77 75
298 Rocco Mediate 72 72 79 75
299 Franklin Langham 77 69 75 78, Graeme McDowell (Irl) 75 71 75 78
300 Ian Poulter (Eng) 72 73 81 74
301 Doug Tewell 72 74 79 76
302 Lee Westwood (Eng) 73 72 78 79
303 Andre Stolz (Aus) 70 77 78 78.
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