Composed Clarke makes no mistake

The frontrunner's role can sometimes be a cruel one - but Darren Clarke, cast in that position yesterday, wasn't deflected from his mission in the final round of the English Open at Hanbury Manor. As surly black storm clouds gathered overhead to hint at doom and gloom, and eventually caused a 90 minutes disruption in play, the 30-year-old Irishman refused to be daunted by such portents and retained an impressive inner calm to claim his fifth PGA European Tour win.

Of the six-strong pack - including the intimidating presence of Colin Montgomerie - which had started the day five shots behind Clarke, only one player made any charge. John Bickerton, who has been struck twice by lightning in a career that is still without a tour win, shot a closing round 65 to cause mild ripples of concern to the man destined for victory.

But no one was going to deprive Clarke and, on a strange day that mixed thunder and lightning with glorious sunshine, he remained undeterred in his quest and, in the end, finished with a final round 68 for a 20-under-par 72-holes total of 268 to be two shots clear of his closest pursuer. For his troubles, he collected the winner's cheque of Stg£119,043 and, more importantly, another tournament win after a number of months wondering if he would ever escape the bad times.

"I got away to a very bad start to the season," admitted Clarke, "and, when it gets bad, it can be a tough time." In fact, Clarke had missed the cut in three of his previous seven tournaments, although there were signs that he was on his way back when he assumed the half-way lead in last week's Volvo PGA only to falter in the third round with a nightmare 77.

On this occasion, though, the Ulsterman was in no mood to play second fiddle. From a moody reaction to his opening round 68, brought about by "leaving too many shots out on the course", he regained his composure to sign for further rounds of 65, 67 and, finally, a controlled 68 that returned him to the winner's enclosure for the first time since the Volvo Masters eight months ago.

Clarke, of course, started yesterday's final round in control of his own destiny. Standing on the first tee with a five-stroke cushion, things got immediately better. The first hole measures 347 yards and Clarke's drive found the bunker that guards its undulating surface. However, he proceeded to hole out of the sand for an eagle two - and the roars that resounded around the Hertforshire countryside told their own tale for the other competitors. All except one, that is, because Bickerton refused to accept the inevitable.

Instead, Bickerton mounted an assault that included a run of four successive birdies from the eighth hole that moved him to 16-under-par and, at that stage, just two shots behind Clarke. Then, a thunder storm (and the prospect of more) halted play for an hour and a half.

Bickerton, who was on the 12th fairway at that time, saw a flash of lightning in the distance and immediately "felt the hairs on my arms rise." Ten years ago, he was struck by lightning twice in a three-weeks period and has dreaded it ever since.

However, after the break in play, he returned to birdie the par five 12th and put further pressure on Clarke. But the Irishman responded magnificently. "I was watching the scoreboards all around to see what John was doing," admitted Clarke later. Having reached the turn in two under, the Portmarnock Links touring professional returned to the birdie trail again at the 12th where he sank a 20 footer.

But arguably the most important shot of all came at the next hole, which threatened to be unlucky 13. A rare indiscretion off the tee meant his ball landed in a drain - and the recent storm ensured it contained enough water to leave Clarke's ball half-submerged. Tempted to take a drop, the Irishman decided to use a wedge and "just hit and hope," adding: "I was trying not to take too much water."

The recovery shot was the stuff that champions are made of, and it finished just short of the green.

He pitched to 10 feet and holed the putt for a par that was as precious as any birdie. And the homeward journey was made all the easier by a birdie at the 15th where his nine-iron approach finished just six feet from the flag. Not requiring the heroics of the previous two days over this same stretch, a par-par-par finish was sufficient for Clarke to retain his lead and sign for his first victory of the season.

"I wish Darren well," said a gracious Bickerton afterwards. "He's struggled lately, and he deserves this win." Ironically, nobody has struggled more than the Englishman until this season. He has been an annual visitor to the qualifying school and only secured his card for this season via the Challenge Tour. But he has moved up a level this season and earlier this season finished runner-up to Van Phillips after a play-off for the Portuguese Open.

Indeed, on a day when some so-called bigger guns failed to fire, Bickerton brought a real competitive edge to the play . . . and it's indicative of his work ethic that, on Saturday evening after play had concluded, Bickerton was the last player left on the driving range. Yesterday, though, proved to be Clarke's day and he had two shots to spare in the end over Bickerton with Murphy's Irish Open champion David Carter and Australian Stephen Leaney a further four shots back in tied-third.

During Saturday's round, Clarke, struggling to escape the logjam at the top of the leaderboard, sought inspiration on the 14th tee-box. The previous day, he'd finished his round with five successive birdies. "If I could do it once," Clarke said to himself, "there is no reason why I can't do it again." And he did. Figures of 3-3-2-4-3 allowed him to sprint clear of the chasing posse, and the longest putts in that deja vu of a purple patch, on his way to a third round 67, were from 15 feet at the 14th and 15th.

Over the opening stretch of holes in that third round, Clarke had to show resolve What he had termed "a couple of lucky bounces" from the previous day threatened to turn into ones of the unlucky variety and his swing had become noticeably faster. "I was starting to get a little disillusioned," admitted Clarke, "but Billy (Foster) my caddie kept harping on at me. He's good at that, helps keep me focussed."

The urgings of his experienced caddie were, according to the player, "quite unprintable." They worked though, because Clarke escaped the bunch that had gathered together on 11-under-par and his sequence of five successive birdies enabled him to open up a five strokes lead over a group of six players heading into yesterday's final round.

"I'm not bothered by what anyone else does," said Clarke after Saturday's third round. "If I keep on playing the way that I'm playing, then I have nobody to fear." He was to prove as good as his word, even if Mr Bickerton did his best to spoil things.