Darren Clarke: "It’s nice to get back in the winner’s circle again"

The former Ryder Cup star won the Sanford International on Sunday for his third PGA Tour Champions victory of the season.

Darren Clarke poses for photos after winning the Sanford International at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

Darren Clarke won the Sanford International on Sunday for his third PGA Tour Champions victory of the season, beating K.J. Choi with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff.

Clarke, the 53-year-old major champion from Northern Ireland, closed with a 5-under 65 at Minnehaha Country Club, birdieing the par-4 18th to match Choi and Steve Flesch at 12-under 198.

“It’s nice to get back in the winner’s circle again,” Clarke said. “In the playoff you never know what’s going to happen, anybody can make birdie and luckily it was my day today.” 

Clarke won the TimberTech Championship in November for his first senior title and took the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in January on his next tour start.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time here in Sioux Falls,” Clarke said. “The fans have been brilliant. I’ve had maybe a little beverage with one or two of them in the past, so it’s been nice to have that atmosphere and that support. It’s always wonderful.” 

“It's nice then to come along to win again. I have two weeks off down in Abaco, down home. Sit in front of my TV, I'll watch every shot of the Ryder Cup, I'll really enjoy it, and I may have a beer or two to go along with it.” 

When asked how many beers, he quipped: “Probably 10.” 

He recalled his own experience of captaining Europe: “It was brilliant. It's a huge honour to be a Ryder Cup captain, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

“My American captain, Davis Love, has been a great friend of mine for many, many years, and still is. That particular week the American team played really well and the best team won.

“I think Whistling Straits - I've played there a couple of times now, I led the PGA there - it's a wonderful golf course, it's a tough golf course. It's going to be a brilliant match-play golf course, one of the most exciting ones I think we'll see in a long time because if your opponent hits it in the rubbish or hits it in trouble, there's no easy bailout at Whistling Straits. You've still got to hit a golf shot.

“So, from a viewing point, I think it's going to be sensational. I'm not going to miss a shot of it.

“The Ryder Cup, there's nothing like a Ryder Cup. It's the ultimate. It's the ultimate amount of pressure, the ultimate feeling of this is where your golf game is at.

“If you're on that team, you deserve to be on that team. It's an intimidating place, that first tee, but it's brilliant -- it's a weird thing to describe, you can't really describe it.

“So one of the legends of the European Tour, a guy called Sam Torrance, who was a Ryder Cup captain himself, before I played in my first one he said to me, ‘The playing in the Ryder Cup is like having your first child; until you do it, you never understand what it's all about.’ 

“That was as good an analogy as I've ever heard of what it's like in the Ryder Cup. It's both intimidating, exhilarating, it's everything, and at Whistling Straits this year, you've got two brilliant teams. I think it's going to be really, really close.” Clarke took his season’s earnings to $1.73m to move up to ninth in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.