Clarke rues four over final round on ‘punishing’ course

Darren Clarke didn’t need to shoot a final round 76 in the Masters to know there’s a very fine line between success and failure at Augusta National.

Hoping for a sub-par final day and playing well enough to shoot it, he ended up signing for a four over round that left him on nine over par after one of those Masters rounds that slowly ebbed away on capricious gusts of wind, repelled from par by odd bounces.

“It’s Augusta National and a privilege to be here, one of the best golf courses in the world, but it is frustrating at times,” sighed Clarke, who mixed four birdies with four bogeys and two double bogeys.