Golfing Disasters Part Two: Gary Moran recalls the ups (60) and downs (75) of Darren Clarke at the 1999 Smurfit European Open.at the K Club
The 1999 Smurfit European Open was memorable for many reasons including some prescient quotes by friends, rivals and International Sports Management (ISM) stablemates Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood. Unlike in more recent years the tournament started on a Friday and was scheduled to finish on the August Bank Holiday Monday. That made it four weeks after the Irish Open at Druids Glen, where Sergio Garcia had secured his maiden professional victory, and just two weeks after the infamous British Open at Carnoustie. Snagged in the brutal rough on the Scottish course, the young Spaniard was in tears after a first round 89 and by the time the players arrived at the K Club, the talk was still of Jean van de Velde's final hole collapse and Paul Lawrie's surprise victory.
The first-round leaders were Michael Campbell and Katsuyoshi Tomori who both carded 66s and there was little for Clarke to enthuse about after an opening 73. In adversity Clarke gets fairly hot under the collar and his shirt was almost on fire after he missed three putts from inside three feet with a brand new putter. The errant blade was quickly consigned to the scrap heap as Clarke declared he needed "something special" to get back into the tournament.
That proved to be both prescient and understated as on Saturday morning he put together one of the greatest rounds ever played in Europe and broke the course record by four shots.
Clarke started at the 10th where he drained a 30-footer for birdie and picked up three further shots before embarking on a breathtaking stretch from the 18th. Starting with a two-putt birdie from 10 feet, Clarke equalled the European Tour record of eight consecutive birdies with the longest putt holed being from eight feet.
Another birdie in the closing two holes would have would have made him the first in Europe to card a 59, but he missed from 12 and then 24 feet and settled for the second 60 of his career. It was the mangiest of consolations that he didn't have to change the DC 60 number plate commissioned when he first achieved the feat at the far easier Mont Agel course in the 1992 Monte Carlo Open.
The Ulsterman kept his foot on the gas on Sunday. Fuelled by a hole-in-one on the fifth, he accelerated away to a six-shot lead over Peter O'Malley and was seven ahead of Lee Westwood. The previous week, Westwood had come from five behind to pip Gary Orr for the Dutch Open title and he was hopeful of repeating the trick. "At seven behind, I'd rather be playing with Darren tomorrow, but if I can get off to a good start and put some pressure on, you never know what might happen. It's easy to make four birdies to somebody's three bogeys out there."
Given that Clarke had recorded 20 birdies plus his hole-in-one in the first three rounds, it seemed that Westwood was clutching at straws, but on Monday Clarke's putter went stone cold and he shot 75 to Westwood's 65.
The Englishman surpassed his own prediction by taking the lead with five front-nine birdies to Clarke's three bogies and in a muted atmosphere could even afford a double-bogey on the 16th in cruising to a three-shot victory.
Clarke's tournament turned full circle when he missed a three-footer on the 18th to drop into a tie for second with O'Malley. "To shoot 60, have a hole-in-one and still not win - it's going to take an awful long time to get over this. I wouldn't care to tell you what I'd like to do to my clubs at the moment," mused Clarke.
