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| August 26, 2003 | Tuesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 27, 1424 |
Clarke cruises to four-stroke victory
AKRON (Ohio), Aug 25: Darren Clarke shot a closing three-under-par 67 at the Firestone Country Club South Course on Sunday to win his second World Golf Championship title by a comfortable four-stroke margin.
The Northern Irishman led by a single shot overnight and got off to a good start as he cruised to a 12-under 268 total, well ahead of American Jonathan Kaye in second place.
With the victory, the 35-year-old became just the second player after Tiger Woods to win multiple WGC tournaments after he picked up the Accenture Match Play championships in 2000.
Kaye, who began the day a stroke behind Clarke, never put any pressure on the Ulsterman and finished with a 70.
Davis Love III was another stroke back after a 69.
Woods, who won the last three NEC Invitationals at Firestone, managed to get within two strokes of Clarke after eight holes, but an inward 38 derailed his chances.
He shot 70-274 and came in joint fourth with Chris Riley, who had a 71.
Clarke’s 100 putts ranked third for the week but he led the field in putts per green in regulation.
His 67 on the scorched South Course was the lowest round among players in the last 25 pairings and the fourth lowest of the day.
After a 15-foot eagle at the second and a birdie at the fourth, from eight feet, Clarke led by five strokes.
But he dropped a shot at the fifth with a blown three-footer while Woods birdied seven and eight to cut the difference to two strokes.
Clarke, however, made three birdies in five holes starting at the 11th, capped by a 40-footer from the fringe at 13, and Woods shot himself out of contention with bogeys at 13 and 14.
Kaye made little headway despite two late bogeys by the leader.
Clarke, who already had conditional membership on the PGA Tour, said he planned to play around 16 events next year in the U.S. and a similar number on the European Tour.
NEC final round scores
268 Darren Clarke 65 70 66 67
272 Jonathan Kaye 68 69 65 70
273 Davis Love III 66 70 68 69
274 Chris Riley 66 67 70 71, Tiger Woods 65 72 67 70 275 Vijay Singh 69 65 72 69, Robert Allenby 69 69 68 69, Jim Furyk 69 69 68 69
276 Trevor Immelman 70 68 70 68, Brad Faxon 68 67 70 71 277 Bernhard Langer 71 73 65 68, Dan Forsman 69 68 70 70, Steve Flesch 71 67 67 72
278 Toshi Izawa 70 71 68 69, Peter Jacobsen 73 64 71 70, Fred Funk 72 62 72 72
279 Jay Haas 72 69 73 65, Paul Casey 72 66 71 70, Ernie Els 67 70 71 71, Retief Goosen (South Africa) 67 69 69 74
280 Charles Howell III 72 68 74 66, Fred Couples 67 71 71 71 281 Peter Lonard 70 73 72 66, Justin Leonard 75 69 69 68, Mike Weir 71 72 69 69, Phil Mickelson 68 73 70 70, Angel Cabrera 70 71 70 70, Shaun Micheel 71 69 70 71, Colin Montgomerie 68 70 70 73
282 Ben Curtis 64 76 72 70, Len Mattiace 72 69 69 72, Sergio Garcia 64 76 69 73
283 Justin Rose 72 73 69 69, Chris DiMarco 72 68 73 71, Eduardo Romero 70 74 68 71, David Toms 66 67 76 74, Ian Poulter 73 68 67 75, Hal Sutton 68 69 68 78
284 Jeff Sluman 67 74 75 68, Padraig Harrington 73 71 70 70, Paul Azinger 72 69 67 76
285 Ben Crane 71 75 68 71, Robert-Jan Derksen 73 70 70 72, Nick Price 73 67 71 74, Alex Cejka 72 68 71 74
286 Steve Allan 74 68 76 68, Lee Westwood 70 70 73 73, Stuart Appleby 70 75 68 73, Bob Estes 68 74 70 74, Scott Verplank 66 73 70 77
287 Rory Sabbatini 73 72 70 72, Scott Hoch 69 72 72 74
288 Kenny Perry 72 76 68 72, Chad Campbell 73 71 72 72, Jerry Kelly 68 71 76 73, K.J. Choi 73 71 71 73, Mark Calcavecchia 70 68 73 77
289 Niclas Fasth 67 76 74 72, Paul McGinley 70 71 73 75, Kaname Yokoo 73 71 70 75
290 Thomas Bjorn 72 72 75 71, Phil Golding 76 69 73 72, Stewart Cink 70 71 74 75 291 Tim Clark 73 69 73 76, Craig Parry 69 75 71 76, Adam Scott 72 70 69 80
292 Pierre Fulke 72 72 75 73, Philip Price 68 75 75 74, John Rollins 75 72 71 74, Rich Beem 69 69 78 76
293 Steen Dinning 71 74 76 72, Jonathan Byrd 71 77 73 72, Kevin Na 71 80 69 73, Jesper Parnevik 69 72 75 77, Stephen Leaney 75 69 72 77, Michael Campbell 74 71 70 78
294 Robert Karlsson 72 72 77 73, Hennie Otto 72 69 75 78, Bob Burns 74 70 75 75, Ignacio Garrido 74 74 72 74, Rocco Mediate 78 73 69 74
295 Jarrod Moseley 76 74 72 73, Nick Faldo 74 67 79 75
296 Fredrik Jaobson 75 71 77 73 308 Gene Sauers 73 76 77 82.—Reuters
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