Darren Clarke after keeping the Claret Jug for one year
In the year 2011, the British Open Championship took place at the famous Royal St George’s Golf Club. The tournament was won by the Irish professional golfer, Darren Clarke.
Clarke had a magnificent five-under par in the four-day tournament and was 3 strokes clear from the second position holders, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.
With this win, Clarke was presented with the famous and the oldest golf trophy, the Claret Jug. Clarke had the honour of keeping the trophy for a complete year.
The British Open Championship 2012 is about to start at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Course. The players will fight once again for the Claret Jug, starting from the 19th of July. Consequently, Clarke had to return the most prestigious golf
trophy.
The 43-year-old returned the trophy to Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A. In an interview, he joked about having tears in his eyes when he returned the trophy.
While this was a joke, Clarke did have to give away his most prized possession and naturally that could not have been easy.
Clarke said in an interview that the year had passed really quickly and he had enjoyed the time while the Jug was in his possession. It is an honour for any player to take this marvellous trophy all around the world with him.
Clarke also talked about the condition of the trophy - the condition he received the trophy in and the condition in which he is giving it back.
He said, “It’s not quite in as good a condition as I received it in. It’s been here, there and everywhere. But Mr. Dawson looked at it and said, oh, we can fix that, we can fix this”.
“I didn’t drop it, and not in my possession. I shall say no more. It was nothing to do with me. It’s not that bad,” he added.
He also talked about what this trophy meant for him and how he could not use it for pouring drinks, and “It just is too special a trophy. I have so much respect for The Open Championship, and I couldn't get myself to do it. I just decided that the trophy
was too special for me to put anything into it”.
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