Darren Clarke seals the 140th Open Golf Championship 2011
The 42 year Northern Irishman who was currently ranked 111 in the world claimed is maiden major title shooting a final round of 70 five under to hold off Americans Phil Mickelson (68) and Dustin Johnson (72) his 3 other rounds included a 68, 68 and 69
Again the links course and bad weather conditions played a big part in the scoring with only 4 players to finish under par and some top pros missing the cut such as Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Graeme Mcdowell and Matt Kuchar.
Mickelson was on fire carding 4 birdies and an eagle in 10 holes but his hopes were lost by 4 bogies in his last 8 one a miss from inches of the cup. After a shaky start from Dustin Johnson with bogies on the 3rd and 6th then rebounded with birdies on the 7th, 10th and 12th but is luck ran out with an out of bounds 7 on 14th this would give Clarke a 4 shot lead going into the last 4 holes.
Throughout all 4 rounds Clarke looked calm and in control with a bit of Irish luck here and there and made the most of the bad weather conditions punching spectacular low iron shots into the green time and time again.
Well done Darren.
2012 Open Golf Championship
The next Bristish Open Championship will be held at Royal Lytham & St Annes
The British Open 2011
From the 14th - 17 July the British Open 2011 will be returning to Kent hosted again by Royal St Georges Golf Club in Sandwich Kent. The last time The British open was held in Kent was back in July 2003.
Image kind permission from Royal St George's
The 132nd Open was won by Ben Curtis an American rookie playing his first ever major, he won by 1 stroke carding a 69 for the final day and was the only player to shoot under par for the week.
The [Royal and Ancient] has confirmed the 2011 British Open will return to Royal St George's Sandwich who have previously hosted this event 13 times.
Also announced was that [Royal Lytham & St Annes] will host the 2012 British Open a week before the olympics in London.
About Royal St Georges Golf Club
Image kind permission from Royal St George's
Royal St Georges Golf Club was initially designed by Dr Laidlaw in 1887, it's original design and use was for London golfers who generally played in overcrowded and unmanaged courses to come and relax and enjoy their round of golf.
The Royal status was given to St Georges by King Edward VII in May 1902.
Over the years the cruel links course conditions have tamed even the greatest of golfing legends including the former world number 1 [Tiger woods] who in 2003 finished joint 4th 1 over for the tournament.
Just to give you an idea of the difficulties these players face, Bill Rogers, Greg Norman and Ben Curtis are the only three players who have ever won The Open at Royal St Georges under par for 72 holes.
Visit Royal St Georges [website] for more information