Clarke misses out as Dodt claims maiden win

Golf: Darren Clarke may have closed out the week with an eagle three but too many errors beforehand cost him the chance of victory…

Golf:Darren Clarke may have closed out the week with an eagle three but too many errors beforehand cost him the chance of victory at the €1.5million Avantha Masters in New Delhi where Australia's Andrew Dodt kept his nerve to close out a maiden European Tour victory.

Clarke signed for a closing round of 71 for a 10-under par 278 aggregate which was good enough to finish tied eighth and receive a cheque for almost €30,000 (€29,775).

His round started brightly enough with two birdies in his opening four holes but a dropped shot at the ninth meant he turned in one under 35.

A further birdie came at the 12th but a run of three bogeys at the 14, 15 and 17 put paid to any chance the 41-year-old had of winning. However, he signed-off on a high after an eagle three at the 537-yard par five 18th.

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Gareth Maybin let the euro slip through his fingers after his week at DLF Golf and Country Club ended with a closing 77 to finish tied 44th on two-under.

Shane Lowry’s weekend was one to forget after the Irish Open champion shot rounds of 77, 75 to drop back to one over when a second round 66 had previously got the Clara professional into contention.

At the top of the pile an overwhelmed Dodt was delighted to close out his maiden tour win with a closing 68 to win by a single shot on 14 under from England’s Richard Finch, who carded a best of the day 66.

Dodt started the day one off the lead shared by seven players before the 24-year-old converted five birdies against one bogey.

“I can’t describe the feeling that I have now,” he said. “To win a professional golf tournament is absolutely huge. I’ve come close a few times and to actually pull it off is a dream come true.

“This win is going to open a few doors for me and I’m really excited. I managed to hold on to my nerves today and I got the job done.”

With seven players sharing the lead entering the final round there was always going to be movement and so it proved.

However, after reaching the turn three-under for the day, Dodt overcame a bogey at the 11th with what eventually proved to be crucial birdies at the 16th and

18th - the latter coming after he found the sand - to deny Finch.

“It was a huge relief when I birdied the 18th,” added the Australian who picked up the €250,000 winner’s cheque.

“I had a pretty good lie on the rough and I was in between clubs. I decided to be more aggressive and hit a pretty good shot but it just didn’t turn. The bunker was fine as it was kind of a standard bunker shot and I managed to hit a good one.”

Dodt’s previous best finish was a tie for ninth at last year’s Singapore Open and having recently taken up affiliate membership of the European Tour, now

finds himself inside the top 10 in the early Race to Dubai standings.

“The week has been awesome,” he said. “I was just hoping for a good week this week. I stayed patient today and did what I had to do and I played really well.”

Final round scores and totals in the Avantha Masters, DLF Golf and Country Club, New Delhi, India

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in boldpar 72):

274Andrew Dodt (Aus) 67 68 71 68

275Richard Finch 69 69 71 66

276Richard Bland 68 71 66 71, David Drysdale 68 67 71 70, Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 73 62 70 71, Barry Lane 67 67 71 71

277Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 68 71 66 72

278 Yin-shin Chan (Tpe) 65 68 72 73, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 71 70 66 71, Darren Clarke 71 66 70 71, Steven O'Hara 69 73 67 69, Oliver Fisher 70 67 71 70, Jason Knutzon (USA) 70 67 72 69

279Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 67 69 69 74, Richie Ramsay 71 68 70 70, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 68 67 74 70, Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 67 68 74 70

280Sung Lee (Kor) 71 65 73 71, Peter Whiteford 70 70 70 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 71 70 68 71, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 72 67 71 70, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 71 69 71 69

281Darren Beck (Aus) 70 65 70 76, Kwanchai Tannin (Hkg) 68 68 70 75, Marcel Siem (Ger) 64 73 70 74, Wen-hong Lin (Chn) 68 70 69 74

282John Parry 67 67 75 73, Richard McEvoy 73 68 73 68

283Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 74 72 70, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 67 73 67 76, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 68 72 72 71, Angelo Que (Phi) 73 70 69 71, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 68 71 68 76, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 73 69 70 71

284Joost Luiten (Ned) 69 74 70 71, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 71 68 71 74, Rhys Davies 72 68 71 73

285Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 72 70 71 72, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 72 69 71 73, Andrew Coltart 69 74 71 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 71 71 74 69, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 71 71 73 70, Adam Blyth (Aus) 74 68 70 73

286Mark f Haastrup (Den) 72 71 72 71, Gareth Maybin 70 69 70 77, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 70 73 72 71, Udorn Duangdecha (Tha) 71 71 67 77, George Coetzee (Rsa) 72 70 71 73, Danny Chia (Mal) 74 65 73 74, Kunal Bhasin (Ind) 71 71 71 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 71 69 75

287Ashok Kumar (Ind) 70 72 75 70, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 74 73 71, Scott Hend (Aus) 76 67 72 72, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 76 65 73 73, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 72 70 72 73

288David Howell 74 68 69 77, Lee Slattery 70 69 71 78

289Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 74 69 70 76, Shane Lowry 71 66 77 75, Ted Oh (Kor) 71 72 74 72

290Ben Leong (Mal) 68 73 75 74

292Julien Quesne (Fra) 73 70 77 72

293Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 71 70 75 77

294Anthony Kang (USA) 71 72 75 76, Scott Barr (Aus) 73 70 72 79