Darren Clarke records first win since 2011 Open at Royal St George's

Darren Clarke landed his first win since the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St George's with a breakthrough victory on the Champions Tour in Florida.

2011 Open champion Darren Clarke recorded his breakthrough win on the Champions Tour in his 40th event on the over-50s circuit. Picture: Chris Keane/Getty Images

The 52-year-old Northern Irishman two-putted the last hole for a birdie to earn a one-shot-win over Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer in the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton.

“I’ve had a lot of opportunities the last few years, so it’s great to finally win one,” said Clarke, a 14-time European Tour champion, including two World Golf Championships, afterwards. “I wouldn’t be working this hard if I didn’t think I could still win.”

After opening with rounds of 69 and 62 to share the lead with Swede Robert Karlsson, the 2016 Ryder Cup captain closed with a 68 for a 17-under 199 total at the The Old Course at Broken Sound.

"The last victory I had, I was drunk for a week, so this time I won’t be,” he added, laughing.

Clarke's return to winning ways was greeted with delighted by Scottish duo Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren.

"Congratulations," wrote Montgomerie, who finished just outside the top 40 in the event, in a post on Twitter to his Ryder Cup team-mate. "Fantastic play this week. Absolutely delighted for you."

Referring to his own title triumph in the Austrian Open on the European Tour in the summer, Warren said: "Got a very cool message from the big man a couple of months ago after winning for the first time in a few years, delighted to return the favour tonight."

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.