Clarke at a loss to fathom MCI fall

Tour Scene News round-up:  The sight of any golfer bleeding coming down the stretch is not a pleasant one to behold. In the case of Darren Clarke, who has undertaken a fitness and dietary regime with the express purpose of getting into a position to contend in tournaments more frequently, it was particularly unpleasant, writes Philip Reid.reports

"I can't believe I've done what I've done," said a shell-shocked Clarke, after his weekend collapse in the MCI Heritage Classic at Hilton Head contributed handsomely to Australian Peter Lonard's maiden win on the US Tour.

Golf, as we know, is a numbers game. For Clarke, the arithmetic wasn't pretty. He became the first player since Nick Price in the 1984 Canadian Open to squander a six-shot midway lead and, in wasting a golden opportunity to claim his first title on the US Tour since his NEC Invitational win in August 2003, he also allowed valuable world ranking points - and dollars - to slip from his grasp.

When the dust settled, his endeavours saw him move up just one place - from 17th to 16th - in the official world rankings and win a cheque for $343,200 that moved him to 18th in the US Tour money list with season's earnings of $1,079,120 (one place behind Padraig Harrington). The monetary gain may have been some solace but, in the cut and thrust of professional golf, it was small consolation. At this level, titles are what really matter.

Clarke has entered for this week's Shell Houston Open - where he was runner-up in 2002, albeit some six shots behind Vijay Singh - but the scars of what happened this past weekend at Hilton Head will, one feels, be slow to heal.

"I got off to a great start, thought everything was going well, and just started making some bad swings, and it went from bad to worse," remarked Clarke, who had opened with four birdies in the first five holes only to cover the remaining 13 in nine-over par. He was six-over for the last six holes.

Lonard, whose final round 75 was the highest final round score by a winner on the US Tour since Vijay Singh's 76 in last year's US PGA at Whistling Straits, confessed it was "horrible" to watch what was happening to Clarke, particularly on the 72nd hole where the Irishman pulled his eight-iron approach from the middle of the fairway into the hazard.

"It's an ugly feeling (watching)," said Lonard. "We'd got a good rapport together and we had a good day even though it was hard work . . . I think we all went a little greyer as we were walking around. It was a horrible situation to stand back and watch him walk 200 yards back to hit another one."

The topsy-turvy nature of the final round - Lonard shot 75 to Clarke's 76 for a winning total of 277, two shots clear of a quartet in tied-second that included Clarke - was, as Lonard put it, "just the strangest thing . . . a weird game. I've never been in a position where I was involved in anything like that."

No one was more bewildered than Clarke. In creating the situation at the halfway stage of a six-stroke lead, he'd recorded 14 birdies and just two bogeys in the opening 36-holes; for the final two rounds, he had nine birdies, 10 bogeys and three double-bogeys. In the final round, he claimed: "I seemed to be fighting a hook all day."

Yet, standing on the 18th fairway preparing for his approach shot, he was still level with Lonard who had started the final round one shot ahead and appeared to be fighting just as many demons as Clarke.

"I was probably a little bit greedy on 18 with the way that I had been swinging all day, fighting going left . . . trying to take an eight-iron in and take the flag down proved to be foolish."

Lonard's assessment was that "I probably put him in that situation (of going at the flag) because I'd hit a decent shot in there."

Clarke, who had experienced similar turmoil in the Smurfit European Open in 1999 when he shot a final round 75 to Lee Westwood's 65 to see a seven-shot lead turn into a three-shot loss, said of his final round at the MCI, "things happen out here that you don't think are going to happen . . . (my swing) just got progressively worse".

When asked if there was a sense of disbelief, Clarke replied, "the honest answer is yes. I can't believe I've done what I've done."

While Clarke is entered for the Houston Open, that tournament will be the last of a stretch in the United States for some time. He has two weeks off on his return home to London and, then, will reappear at the British Masters at the Forest of Arden - a course that holds good memories, having won two of his three English Open titles there - followed by the Nissan Irish Open at Carton House and the BMW Championship at Wentworth.

Padraig Harrington withdrew from the Houston Open in the aftermath of his missed cut at the US Masters - which means he is likely to have to add on tournaments Stateside later in the season to meet his card requirements - and is due to resume competitive play at next week's New Orleans Classic and then go on to play in the Wachovia Championship.

Graeme McDowell, meanwhile, is taking a two-week break before defending his Italian Open title and then continuing a stretch in Europe that takes in the British Masters, Irish Open and the BMW Championship.

Four of the top-10 players in the world rankings - Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott - are among the field for this week's Johnnie Walker Classic at the Pine Valley resort course in Beijing.

Peter Lawrie, fresh from his third-place finish in the Spanish Open which moved him up to 29th on the European Tour money list, is the only Irish player in the field.

Irish placings on European Tour Order of Merit: 23 P McGinley (6) 202,301; 29 P Lawrie (12) 157,836; 33 P Harrington (4) 142,306; 34 D Clarke (3) €141,343; 49 G McDowell (4) 89,683; 51 D McGrane (12) 83,747; 119 D Higgins (1) 30,000; 150 G Murphy (10) €21,857; 219 S Browne (8) €8,149; 234 M Hoey (2) 5,684; 278 P Walton (6) 1,107.

Worl Rankings

1. Tiger Woods ... 13.74 pts

2. Vijay Singh (Fiji) ... 12.06

3. Ernie Els (SA) ... 10.35

4. Phil Mickelson ... 9.36

5. Retief Goosen (SA) ... 7.79

6. Padraig Harrington (Ire) ... 5.45

7. Chris DiMarco ... 5.31

8. Sergio Garcia (Spain) ... 5.01

9. David Toms ... 5.00

10. Adam Scott (Aus) ... 4.92

11. Stewart Cink (US) ... 4.67

12. Mike Weir (Canada) ... 4.67

13. Luke Donald (Brit) ... 4.65

14. Davis Love III ... 4.48

15. Kenny Perry ... 4.37

1. Phil Mickelson ... $3,842,456

2. Tiger Woods ... $3,687,090

3. Vijay Singh (Fiji) ... $2,936,413

4. David Toms ... $2,256,643

5. Fred Funk ... $1,841,200

6. Luke Donald (Bri) ... $1,766,427

7. Retief Goosen (SA) ... $1,698,408

8. Adam Scott (Aus) ... $1,657,748

9. Chris DiMarco ... $1,541,278

10. Tom Lehman ... $1,346,893

11. Joe Ogilvie ... $1,296,843

12. Peter Lonard (Aus) ... $1,285,011

13. Kenny Perry ... $1,260,280

17. Harrington ... $1,104,626

18. Darren Clarke ... $1,079,120

European Order of Merit

1. Retief Goosen ... €743,122

2. Ernie Els ... €573,198

3. Luke Donald ... €410,427

4. Stephen Dodd ... €390,086

5. M A Jiminez (Spn) ... €376,826

6. Ian Poulter ... €374,889

7. Nick O'Hern (Aus) ... €330,805

8. Peter Hanson (Swe) ... €291,382

9. Thomas Bjorn (Den) ... €290,961

10. David Howell ... €267,495

11. Niclas Fasth (Swe) ... €266,024

12. T Immelman (SA) ... €262.662

13. Vijay Singh ... €249,019

14. Nick Dougherty ... €245,384

15. H Stenson (Swe) ... €244,629