Too little too late for Clarke

TOO little, too late. That was the message yesterday from Darren Clarke who this time converted an immaculate long game into a three under par round of 68 and a two under par total of 282.

A very respectable effort by most standards, it still left him eight behind Todd Hamilton and Ernie Els. He tied for 11th and picked up a cheque for stg£69,100.

Over the four days, Clarke proved he has the golf game to take on and beat the game's best but he made one or two unforgiveable errors - like the five iron to the 18th on Thursday evening that sent the ball crashing out of bounds - and was much too inconsistent in Saturday's 73 which effectively left him with no realistic hope of challenging for the title. The momentum had long since passed but Clarke plugged away and was rewarded with a splendid final round.

"It was a nice finish because making birdie at three of the last four is always pretty good around here", said Clarke.

"They're bogey holes more than birdie holes so that was pretty good and I also left a putt hanging on the lip at the last. I hit the ball just as well as I did on Thursday and Friday.

"I didn't play quite so well yesterday but today I managed to hole a couple of putts and got a bit of momentum going.

"From tee to green, I hit the ball as well as I wanted to. However, my short game has been very weak. If it had been anywhere near what I would call respectable, I might have been able to get into contention but unfortunately it wasn't. I don't quite see this as a chance lost because I wasn't up there.

"I had a cold putter and I wasn't chipping it close enough and when I made mistakes, I wasn't able to recover. I've been watching a lot of it on television and noticed that the guys who are leading, when they make a mistake, they were able to get up and down as they do every week. And I haven't been able to do that."

Be all that as it may, fact is that the double bogey at the 18th on Thursday allied to dropping shots at two of the last three on Friday were psychological body blows from he was unable to recover.

He doesn't argue, accepting that "momentum is important in any tournament and probably more so again in a major. Coming down the 18th on Thursday, I was in very good shape when I made a mistake and never regained what I had before that even though I played every bit as well if not better on Friday."

Clarke ran up a couple of hat-trick birdies, from the 4th to the 6th and the 15th to the 17th, and used the putter 26 times bringing his average over the four days to 27.

All the same, we can forget about ever again seeing a belly putter in his hands. Asked as to the whereabouts of the offending blade he used for two rounds of the recent Smurfit European Open at The K-Club, he laughed: "Probably floating down the Liffey - or maybe it has sunk by now."

Clarke is back in The K-Club today for the Ronan Keating Classic and then moves on to Baltray to begin his preparations for the Nissan Irish Open beginning there on Thursday.

In compliance with an agreement they reached on breaking up a week after the Masters, JP Fitzgerald, a member of the host club, will be on the bag.

Darren says he is looking forward to the week pointing out that "it's always nice to finish a tournament with a good round. I've rolled in some putts at the end and I'm looking forward to playing on another great golf course. Baltray is one I've played a lot (he captured the Irish Close and East of Ireland Championships there in his amateur days) and I can't wait to get there."

Having opened promisingly with a 69 on Thursday, the championship slipped further and further away from Paul McGinley until he eventually finished on nine over par 293 and in a share of 57th place.

"I was out in the fifth group at a time when the atmosphere is 5% of what it is when you're in contention", he said. "It was very disappointing to be at or near the top of the leaderboard for a day and a half and at the tail end for the other two and a half. "Golf is a numbers game and I'm not producing the right ones at the moment. You come and go, you ebb and flow, and I'm not flowing at the moment. I feel my game is good enough but I'm not converting the chances. There will be other days, maybe this coming week at Baltray where I usually play well. I think it's going to be a great venue."

McGinley had two birdies in an outward under par 35 but he required 38 for the homeward run for a round of 73 on top of his previous scores of 69, 76 and 75.