Whew, what an Open. What a major, in general. The second major this year that has brought a lot of drama on the final day. First, let's set the stage for this day. Darren Clarke, a forty-something Ulsterman, is in contention in a major for the first time in 10 years. Dustin Johnson, who experienced major heartbreak TWICE last year, is a few shots back. Phil Mickelson, the guy who NEVER contends in the British Open, is still in the mix. All of this set up for a very, very interesting final day.
The final round started off with some charges. The first real man to lead a charge was Sergio Garcia, who started the day at +4, but came out on fire. The spaniard birdied 4 out of his first 7 holes to get to E in windy conditions, but then proceeded to double the 8th hole to finally finish at +2 for the day. This resulted in a top 10 finish, his second one in a major this year. After Garcia tried to make a surge, another big name American made a memorable front 9 run. Except this time it wasn't Tiger Woods, and it wasn't Augusta National. It was Phil Mickelson here at Royal St. Georges, shooting an astonishing front nine 30 that had him tied for the lead for a brief moment, but a back nine 38 crushed his chances for a victory. The final contender on this wild and windy day was Dustin Johnson, the 27 year old man from South Carolina. He claimed to have learned from his meltdown at Pebble last year and the controversial ruling at Whistling Straights last August. All was going well for him until the 14th, where he tried to lay up close to the green with a 2 iron draw. But, the wind took control of it and carried past the white OB stakes, which doomed him. With all of this occurring, Clarke never faltered. Sure he made a few bogeys on the back nine, but he was able to because he was steady all week and didn't make any huge errors. He was the last man standing after this tough test, and with his ball striking most likely better than anyone else's all tournament long, he was very worthy of the Claret Jug. Now he's going to "be very, very hungover" for the night, but still be also very, very happy.
Recap vid is here, brought to you by ESPN:
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