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| |  Sunday, 22 July, 2001, 20:19 GMT 21:19 UK Clarke puts on brave face Darren Clarke has to play out of the bunker on 17 Darren Clarke put on a brave face after missing out on his first major title in the Open at Royal Lytham. Clarke was David Duval's closest challenger until running up a double bogey six on the penultimate hole that cost him outright second place. "I hit the ball really nicely all week and today was no exception," said Clarke who had to settle for a final round 70 and a six-way tie for third. "I got myself into contention for the tournament on the back nine and hardly missed a shot but the putter didn't quite work as I would have liked. "Even on the 17th where I took a double bogey I didn't really hit a bad shot. I hit a low hard draw and thought it was good and I was disappointed when I saw it in the bunker. I hit it too well.
"If I got it on the fairway there I might have had a birdie opportunity. "I didn't quite make the most of my chances. "The roar and shouting from the crowd was fantastic, I was trying to give them something louder to cheer. "I started with a double bogey on the first hole (on Thursday) and made another on the 71st hole. "We all want to get ourselves in the shake-up the back nine on Sunday in a major and I managed to do that. "I gave myself opportunities, unfortunately things just didn't go my way."
One major plus for Clarke was the way he held his sometimes fragile temperament in check, especially after that opening double bogey in the first round. "I've proved to myself that I can play under that sort of pressure around the back nine," he added. "Mentally it was very good today. "I was very much in control of what I was trying to do. "I got a couple of bad breaks on the 17th but that's links golf. You have to take the good with the bad. "Joint third is a good result. I'm very pleased with how I've played. "I wanted to give myself a chance to win the tournament on Sunday and I did. "I played well enough to give myself a chance to win but it didn't quite happen for me." | |
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