South African Tim Clark, who has conducted a passionate love affair with Loch Lomond in the past without getting to the altar, finally tied the knot with one of Scotland's most picturesque courses by capturing The Barclays Scottish Open by two shots from Darren Clarke and Maarten Lafeber.
The 29 year old from Durban had been third and fifth on previous visits to Loch Lomond, and he added the elusive “first” to his record by sinking a 25 foot birdie putt on the final green to seal his second title of the season and his third on The European Tour.
Clark closed with a four under par 67 for a 19 under par total of 265 and carried away a cheque for €592,388 (£400,000) along with a trophy which had previously been won by his fellow countrymen Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.
Ulsterman Clarke tried ferociously to overhaul his namesake but despite a final round of 66 he came up short on 17 under par, the same mark as joint runner-up Lafeber from The Netherlands, who dropped out of a share of the lead with three putts at the 15th but could not dig out another birdie in the closing stretch to apply the pressure.
However there was considerable consolation at hand for Labefer, who finished the week as the highest player, not otherwise qualified, for The Open Championship, at St Andrews, edging out the fast-finishing Nick Dougherty of England.
Clark admitted: “I am extremely honoured to win the Scottish Open title. I have a couple of South African Opens to my name but this is right up there with them. I’ve been third and fifth here and always felt I could play well on this course. My game is as good as it’s been for a long time so I hoped to play well.
“It’s always great to win your home Open but this is bigger in terms of the quality of the field. I respect this tournament and all the great winners from the past.”
Clark now heads to The Open at St Andrews buoyed by his performance in the west of Scotland. He added: “I had a good US Open a few weeks ago and now that I know I can win, obviously it’s good for me. I feel I can now win more and more tournaments. I can play under the pressure of needing to pay well and that’s very pleasing.”
Clark and Lafeber were tied going into the last round on 15 under par, but the Dutchman made the faster start with a pair of birdies in front of a record crowd of 20,584 at sun-drenched Loch Lomond.
The pair duelled for most of a wonderfully entertaining afternoon, with Clark picking up shots at the first, third and eighth to turn in 33 to Lafeber’s 34. Clark bogeyed the 11th and Lafeber birdied the 12th to move ahead once more, while the other Clarke moved smoothly into the picture by covering the first four holes in four under, helped by a wedge from 130 yards at the fourth which found the bottom of the cup for an eagle two.
However Clark picked up a crucial birdie at the 13th, while Lafeber bogeyed the 15th and Clarke bogeyed the 11th before running out of holes at the end of a fine tournament. The final putt set the seal on a superb performance by Clark
Lafeber was naturally dejected, but knew he had done himself proud. He said: “It’s disappointing but great to be in The Open. I played great today but missed too many birdie chances. The three putt at the 15th stopped me.
“I am proud of myself. I played well but you need a bit of luck and I didn’t have any on the greens. If you want to win you have to make the putts on the last day and I didn’t do that. However I didn’t want to miss The Open at St Andrews and I intend to enjoy the experience.”
Despite his closing 66, Clarke always felt he might come up short and it proved to be the case. He commented; “I struggled with my game for most of the week but I went to the range last night and figured out a couple of things. Today I was swinging the club properly the drove the ball really well.”
