Darren Clarke: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy texted me before the final round of The Open Championship
Darren Clarke came out in the media and revealed that messages of encouragement from Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy worked wonders for him on Sunday.
The recently crowned Open Championship winner told the press about his key ingredient of motivation on Sunday after he lifted the 140th Open Championship trophy at Royal St George’s Golf Club in Kent, England.
The 42-year-old veteran stated, “I got a text from Rory, sort of reiterating what I had sent to him before he went out and won the US Open at Congressional and then I got a couple of really good texts from Tiger. He was giving me a couple of bits of
advice, which was brilliant. Just getting things like that made today a little bit easier than it might have been.”
Adding to his statement, Clarke said that he was overwhelmed with the advices given to him by Woods, who could not take part in the tournament, owing to a knee injury. He said that Woods’ advice worked well on Sunday, while he was surrounded by immense
pressure.
In aftermath of Clarke’s three-stroke victory, Woods posted on his twitter page, “very happy for Darren Clarke, well deserved win.”
Meanwhile, McIlroy, who failed to make the cut into the weekend, twitted at various occasions, “Come on clarkey!!!!.... Northern Ireland...... Golf capital of the world!!... And the winner of the gold medal, the champion golfer of the year, from northern
Ireland DARREN CLARKE!!!!!”
Clarke received a huge amount of support from his fellow golfers which eventually helped him curb his nerves in the final round of the tournament, where he carded a score of even par. Although he could not earn many birdies as he apprehended in the
last eighteen holes, he did manage to save par on 13 holes alongside an eagle and one birdie.
With this triumph, Clarke has become the third Northern Irishman to lift a Claret Jug in thirteen months. Before him, the honours were earned by Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy.
Commenting on the reasons behind his country's brilliant run, the newly crowned Open Champion said that it was mere luck that Northern Ireland was blessed with such talented players.
With this win, Clarke will proceed to Bermuda to compete in the PGA Grand Slam 2011. The tournament takes place every year at the same venue, with four major winners taking part in the competition to be crowned as Champion of the Champions.
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