Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke holds the Claret Jug trophy as he celebrates winning the British Open.
The 42 year old came into the week as an afterthought but three straight scores in the 60 and 70 in the final round lifted him to a comfortable three stroke victory over American duo Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.
Clarke won his first major championship with a 5 under 275 following the path of younger countrymen Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell. They won the last two U.S. Opens.
It had been a decade since Clarke was a serious contender in a Grand Slam event and the one time face of Northern Ireland golf was thought to be long past his prime.
Clarke said I always believed I had enough talent to challenge and win one.
The victory was especially given the difficulties Clarke has endured off the course. His wife died in 2006 with breast cancer.
Clarke said glancing toward the sky as he collected the claret jug is watching down as well.
Beginning the day five strokes behind Clarke Mickelson surged up the leaderboard with a brilliant start even as the wind gusted to more than 48 kilometers per hour and frequent spurts of heavy rain pelted the seaside course.Lefty made three birdies in the first six holes pumping his fist as the ball kept dropping in the cup. Then he rolled in a 25 footer for eagle at the seventh moving into a share of the lead.
Mickelson went out in 30 and made another birdie at the 10th then was bitten by a familiar shortcoming a 2 footer lipped out at the 11th to give him his first bogey. He made three more bogeys before slamming his approach off the grandstands at the 18th.Johnson who played with Clarke in the final pairing, re emerged as Clarke main challenger with two birdies at the beginning of the inward nine.
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