Clarke crumbles in South Carolina

Darren Clarke’s double-bogey on the par-four 18th hole allowed Peter Lonard to capture the MCI Heritage in South Carolina – the Australian’s first career victory on the PGA Tour.

It was a nightmare finish for Clarke, who held a commanding six-shot lead earlier in the tournament.

Clarke and Lonard were tied at seven-under going to the final hole and both hit the middle of the fairway with their tee shots.

Lonard found the green on his approach but Clarke’s second shot landed in the deep rough, leading to a stroke penalty.

Lonard, who bogeyed the 17th allow the Briton to level, parred the last hole to win the tournament and collect the US$918,000 (711,104) first prize despite carding a four-over 75 on an extremely windy day.

The Australian finished the tournament at seven-under on 277.

Clarke stumbled to a 76 in the final round and finished tied for second at five-under with Davis Love III, Billy Andrade and Jim Furyk.

Clarke, who was attempting to become the first player to shoot over par in each of the final two rounds and win a PGA event since David Duval accomplished the feat in the 1999 Players Championship, played the final 13 holes on Sunday at nine-over.

Ireland’s other representative, Graeme McDowell finished well off the pace on 15 over par.

Collated final round scores and totals (USA unless stated, par 71):

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 (NIrl) 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.