Darren Clarke wins Iberdrola Open

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke secured his 13th European Tour title with a three shot victory over the English duo of Chris Wood and David Lynn at the Iberdrola Open in Mallorca.

Darren Clarke
Fergus Bisset
By
published

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke secured his 13th European Tour title with a three-shot victory over the English duo of Chris Wood and David Lynn at the Iberdrola Open in Mallorca.

Clarke began the final round four back of Chris Wood who led the field through 54-holes at nine-under-par. But the difficult, windy conditions made scoring challenging and the Ryder Cup vice captain quickly made inroads into the young Englishman's lead. After Clarke birdied the 3rd and Wood opened with two bogeys in his first three holes, the gap was down to just a single stroke.

Wood's lead remained one at the turn and, when Clarke made a double bogey at the 11th, it looked as though the Englishman might pull away. But the 23-year-old three putted on both the 12th and 13th holes then drove out of bounds on the 15th. Five bogeys in six holes from the 12th meant Wood fell back to just three-under-par.

While things were not going Wood's way, Clarke was enjoying much better fortune on the course. He holed a huge putt from the back of the green for a birdie at the 14th then holed again, from off the green on the 17th to scramble a par.

Clarke finished with an excellent 69 and won by three from Wood and another English player David Lynn who posted a level par closing round of 70.

The 42-year-old Northern Irishman was delighted to be back in the winner's circle again.

"It's a bit of a monkey to get off my back after three years not winning so it's good. At the same time I feel a lot for Chris Wood - he's a young guy, a great player and I've been in his position before."

Scotland's Alastair Forsyth finished alone in fourth, ahead of a group of four players who were tied for fifth.

Iberdrola Open Pula Golf Club, Mallorca May 12-15, purse €1,000,000, par 70

1   Darren Clarke (NIR)   65   70   70   69   274   €166,660 T2   David Lynn (Eng)      68   68   71   70   277   €86,850 T2   Chris Wood (Eng)      67   65   69   76   277   €86,850 4   Alastair Forsyth (Sco)   68   72   68   70   278   €50,000 T5   Paul Lawrie (Sco)      68   69   72   70   279   €33,100 T5   Graeme Storm (Eng)   71   71   67   70   279   €33,100 T5   Jose Maria Olazabal (Esp) 71   69   66   73   279   €33,100 T5   Shane Lowry (Ire)   72   70   63   74   279   €33,100

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only

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Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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