Clarke is a cut above

Darren Clarke survived final-hole drama to clinch a two-shot victory in the $294,500 Sun City Pro-am yesterday.

Clarke had to take a penalty drop at the par-five 18th after hitting his ball into water beyond the green on the testing Gary Player Country Club course.

But Clarke escaped with a bogey and his round of 71 for a 14under-par total of 274 kept him clear of closest challengers Retief Goosen (69) and Tjaart van der Walt (66). The South African pair shared second place.

Clarke's win turned out to be a lot more nerve-racking than it might have been because the Northern Ireland player had a comfortable three-shot cushion before his final tee shot.

While the long-hitting Goosen predictably went for the green in two, an eagle his only realistic chance of winning, Clarke elected to lay up short of the water surrounding the green with a nineiron. But his ball found a downslope.

"I wanted to finish short of that downslope, but the ball ran a metre or two further than I intended. When I got to the ball, I realised it was going to go in (to the green) low. But I never expected it to come out that low," he said, explaining how he had managed to hit his ball into the water beyond the putting surface.

Clarke took a drop from in front of the green and hit his fifth shot to 10 feet. He sank the putt. "That was probably the best six I've ever made," said a relieved Clarke as he enjoyed his customary victory cigar.

Clarke started out four shots clear of Goosen and moved to five ahead after four birdies in his first seven holes. But he then dropped three shots in two holes going into the turn.

"I made a bad swing at eight," he said, describing a pulled approach shot, which resulted in a bogey. At the ninth, he hit what he thought was "a perfect soft and high seven-iron, but it plugged in the greenside bunker".

He failed to escape from the sand at the first attempt and two-putted for a double-bogey six, cutting his lead to two. Goosen's dropped shot at 17 gave Clarke a three-shot advantage with one hole to play.

It was the second time that Clarke had missed the cut in his first tournament of the season and then gone on to win the second.