Ryder place is Clarke's silver lining

ARDENT hopes of a long awaited Irish breakthrough died on an afternoon of glorious sunshine here yesterday. But as Ian Woosnam battled to a two stroke victory and top prize of £183,340 in the Volvo PGA Championship, there was compensation for Darren Clarke, who shared second place in the elite company of Nick Faldo and Ernie Els.

Woosnam, dogged, determined and admirably skilful, relinquished the lead to Clarke for three precious holes midway through a tense final round. But at the end, a solid, two under par 70 with a modest par at the last, was sufficient to secure him a repeat of his 1988 triumph.

Clarke, who earned £82,023 was hot but not too bothered, as the tension of battle gradually eased from his nervous system. "Obviously I'm disappointed at not winning but I will take a lot of positive things out of this," he said.

The Ulsterman, who was a stroke behind Woosnam overnight, went on: "I made some mistakes on the way out but I didn't make a bad swing on the back nine. Things just didn't happen for me. Certainly my scoring from the 10th didn't reflect the way I played in difficult conditions."

His performance and general demeanour brought a warm response from the Welshman, who is not noted for flinging compliments to the winds. "It was a pleasure to play with Darren," he said. "He's a super young man and I would be delighted to see him in the (Ryder Cup) team at Valderrama."

Now third in the points standings, did Clarke feel a Ryder Cup place was now secure? "It certainly looks good, but my thoughts were always on winning the tournament. And I feel I handled it well - the pressure of what was obviously a very big occasion for me."

At this stage of the season, with 14 counting tournaments and 12,469,877 points still to be played for, it is impossible to make precise predictions of the target for Ryder Cup selection. But, with 337,951 points, it is safe to suggest that Clarke is already there.

Meanwhile the tension of yesterday's battle was reflected in the fact that none of the top four finishers broke 70. That distinction fell to Colin Montgomerie who raced through the field with a superb 64, only one stroke behind Wayne Riley's course record of 63.

So, from a position of tied 18th overnight, Montgomerie's eight birdie round made him the clubhouse leader on 10 under par for the championship. But he knew it was too late. "I lost the tournament yesterday," he said, referring to a depressing third round of 76 in Faldo's company.

In the event, Clarke was in the final pairing of the day with the 1991 US Masters champion, while the 1994 US Open champion Els was ahead of him, paired with Faldo, the winner of six majors. Heady company. Yet the Ulsterman held his nerve admirably to be tied for the lead with Woosnam after a birdie at the short second.

Then came the outright lead with a birdie at the eighth and he protected it admirably by sinking an eight footer for par at the next. Indeed, to judge by his comments afterwards, Clarke felt decidedly good about his winning prospects until the fateful, 483 yards 12th.

Ironically, this was a hole he eagled on Friday and Sunday. On this occasion, however, he misjudged a five iron second shot in swirling winds and it came up short, buried in a greenside trap from where he had no chance of getting up and down. A similarly ill judged approach at the next cost him a bogey.

The most important hole of the round, from Woosnam's standpoint, was the 14th. After shooting 11 straight pars, the Welshman had got an expected birdie at the 12th and parred the 13th. And he birdied the short 14th where his three leading challengers each missed the green. As it happened, Els and Faldo both carded bogeys but Clarke got up and down from off the back edge.

Els and Faldo were knocked back to 10 under at that stage but they both birdied the last to finish on 11 under. Woosnam, meanwhile, held grimly onto the two stroke lead he had opened up on Clarke after the 14th. So, if the Irishman was to claim second place on his own, he had to birdie the 18th.

Using a threewood for safety off the tee, he was horrified to see the ball hook into one of the fairway bunkers guarding the left side of the fairway. From there, he thrashed a wedge recovery so fiercely that he had to replace his cut ball when it came to rest in the rough.

Finally, he had a third shot of 142 yards to the green, which he executed admirably with a nine iron. But the 18 foot birdie putt was never quite on target. Woosnam also had problems off the tee, pulling his drive further left but he had the luxury of playing the hole as an orthodox three shotter.

"This is a great course," said Woosnam afterwards. "Wentworth has a habit of bringing out the best in the best players and I like to think that the tournament worked out that way. I didn't play a great round today but I wasn't prepared to take too many risks.

"On the 18th, Wobbly (his caddie) told me to hit a three wood, then a one iron and I got a little confused. I had to believe that Darren could still make eagle, so I hit driver. I was under pressure all the way. Now that it's all over, I must say I liked it. It has geared me up nicely for the US Open."

The Welshman concluded: "After being beaten in a playoff in Dubai, I was determined not to throw it away. I've just beaten one of the strongest fields in Europe for some time and it's going to do wonders for my confidence."