‘Boring’ day for Darren and Paul

DARREN Clarke raised hopes that he might be able to capitalise should Tiger Woods and the other leaders falter in the final round when he shot a delightful third round of 67 on Saturday.

However, he completely failed to ignite yesterday, managing a single birdie at the 9th and also carding bogeys at the 8th and 14th. So his closing round of 73 was possibly as uneventful and boring as it could possibly have been and perhaps that was the reason Clarke declined to speak to the press.

Instead he rushed to Leuchars military airport to catch a flight by private plane that had him back in his Surrey home in good time for supper.

Clarke is not playing in this week's Deutsche Bank TPC of Europe in Hamburg and indeed won't be seen in competitive action again until the US PGA in New Jersey next month.

A total of five under par left him in a share of 15th and improved his bank balance by €67,330.

Paul McGinley began the final day at two over par after a 73 on Saturday and seeking no more than "a consolation prize" as he put it.

For sixteen holes, he stood five under par and looked likely to achieve his goal but once again the treacherous 17th Road Hole proved his undoing.

Having birdied it on Thursday, he double bogeyed there on each of the next three days. And after missing a short putt for birdie on the 18th, he had nothing more than a 69 to show for his labours, a one under par total of 287, a share of 41st and a cheque for €21,786.

He was the first to agree that it was nothing very special, although interestingly among those who finished behind him were the well fancied Luke Donald, former winners Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie, one time joint championship leader Robert Allenby and Spain's Miguel-Angel Jimenez, all on even par not to mention the bitterly disappointing Phil Mickelson on one over.

"I've just been damned unlucky at that 17th hole," McGinley declared. "Three times I've been unplayable. I hit it in that bunker today and it took a great shot to get it out backwards and then I had no angle to the hole for my fourth shot.

"Okay, I shouldn't have been in the bunker but I was trying to finish 3, 3. I was taking on the pin, trying to get a low chaser in there, overcooked it and paid a high price. I don't think anybody could have made five from the lie I was in.

"I putted better but didn't play any better than I did all week. Overall, it's been a disappointing week. I haven't had the buzz of playing in a major championship. In the US Open, I was up there playing the 15th last group or something like that, and that was a lot of fun, big crowds and full stands. We were playing in front of empty stands most of the way around today. The opportunity was there to play well on the big stage and I didn't take it. A consolation prize was all I was looking for, to get up as far as I could, and with a reasonable finish I might have got to 30th or 35th. It's hard to have an adrenalin rush when you're coming in 35th no matter how many you're under par for the day."

He travels to Hamburg for this week's Deutsche Bank TPC of Europe followed by two weeks off before travelling to the United States for the PGA Championship and the WGC NEC.