By Rob Hodgetts and Matt Slater
BBC Sport at Royal Troon |
The Northern Irishman prospered in the breezy conditions after a slow start from one over.
The 35-year-old quickly slumped to two over at the second before birdies at four, five and six put him back on track despite a further bogey on nine.
He dropped a further shot at the 13th but another three-hole birdie blitz from the 15th gave him a strong finish.
Clarke said: "It's not quite a lost chance because I wasn't up there. From tee to green I was hitting it as well as I wanted to.
"But I had a cold putter and I wasn't chipping it close enough.
"When I made mistakes I wasn't able to recover. But it's always good to finish a tournament with a good round."
Paul McGinley completed a week that promised much on Thursday evening with a 73 for a nine-over aggregate.
The Ryder Cup hero opened his Open campaign with a two-under 69, but rounds of 76 and 75 saw him slide down the leaderboard.
The 37-year-old Irishman played better on Sunday in testing conditions, but will be disappointed with his finish.
The real damage came on Saturday when he lost his ball at the 11th and ran up a triple-bogey seven.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
