Darren Clarke secured his best finish in 27 months with a share of second place behind ISM management stablemate Charl Schwartzel in the Nanshan China Masters.
However the 2011 Open Champion could look back to a 17th hole bogey when tied for the lead with Schwartzel as pivotal in the Northern Irishman not forcing the event into a play-off after the South African had birdie 15 and 16 to tie Clarke.
Schwartzel eventually carded a four under par 68 to win the One Asia Tour event by a shot with a nine under par tally to get a nice sky blue jacket to go with his Masters green jacket and while China No. 1 Wen-chong Liang (72) and Clarke (72) ended at eight under par on the Montgomerie course in Nanshan.
Charl Schwartzel wins China Masters for second success this season. (Photo – One Asia Tour)
Schwartzel’s success was his second in Asia after winning last year’s Asian Tour Thailand Golf Championship in Bangkok.
It is also his second victory this season after capturing the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Championship in his homeland.
Clarke’s effort continues a much-overdue return to form since his 140th Open Championship triumph. He had finished T12th in last fortnight’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship that was his first top-10 since that Sandwich success.
However regretted letting slip victory in China after he and Liang were sharing the lead by two shots overnight.
According to the One Asia Tour website Clarke seemed to be cruising until missing a three footer on the 13th, and not for the first time since winning The Open the Portrushman was let down by the shortest club in his bag.
“It was just one of those days on the greens again where I couldn’t buy a putt from anywhere,” he said.
He still had a share of the lead on the 17th until finding the thick fringe of a greenside bunker.
“It was horrible. It couldn’t have got any worse,” he said, after hacking it out and missing the par putt.
“Still, that’s golf and they’ve got a very good winner here, a fantastic winner, and that’s the way it is. It’s like that sometimes, unfortunately. ”
Both Liang and Clarke still had the chance to force a playoff on the 18th, but the hole had yielded only one birdie all day and the pair saw their attempts come up short
Schwartzel was naturally delighted after complaining that he hadn’t struck the ball well all week due back pain.
“It’s always very satisfying to win,” said the 2011 U.S. Masters champion.
“I’ve played a lot of golf tournaments and done a lot of traveling in the past few months and it felt like I’ve been playing really good golf with no results, so it’s nice to have something finally go your way.”
