It’s delight for Darren Clarke’s team Europe as the 57-year-old Northern Irishman captained his side to an emphatic 16.5-point win at a wet and windy Feather Sound Country Club in Florida on Sunday, as the 2011 Open winner led by example in both morning and afternoon singles sessions.
Europe held a narrow 1.5 point ahead of team USA after Friday’s second round, as Colin Montgomerie was given the task of beating high flying Stewart Cink and Angel Cabrera, who were on fire closing out Friday’s round and the Scotsman did just that as Montgomerie made three birdies in nine holes to earn 10.5 points for Europe, setting the tone for the day.
Clarke was next to go out in the second grouping of the day and the Tyrone man was on fire, making five birdies to earn 11.5 points for Europe as Jerry Kelly and Mike Weir could not keep up the former Ryder Cup captain.
Both Thomas Bjorn and Alex Cejka added 12.5 points each to Europe’s tally as the Dane and the German made light work of their groupings, as Miguel Angel Jimenez and Bernhard Langer added a further eight and 7.5 points respectively as the Europeans looked difficult to reach heading into the afternoon round.
Team Europe’s players were leading point scorers in four of the six groups during the Morning Singles, scoring a total of 62.5 points, 11 more than Team International and 14.5 more than Team USA.
Montgomerie again came flying out the blocks with 10.5 points against Cabrera and Cink who scored 9.5 and seven points. Clarke couldn’t emulate his morning round session but did well to add another seven points to the tally, including a two pointer on the first after a textbook birdie.
Europe’s victory was all but sealed but the final nail in the coffin for the USA and the Internationals came in the final groupings of the day as both Bernhard Langer and Soren Kjeldsen scored 12 points each to close out the tournament. Langer saved his best work until the final day as the two-time Masters champion went six-under in the first five holes, which included a hole-out eagle on the par-5 fifth. Kjeldsen also birdied his first five holes.
Europe’s massive 102.5 points tally on Sunday meant they cruised to victory on 230 points with the Internationals taking second place on 213.5 points. The USA team finished on 204.5 points.
Thomas Bjorn and Darren Clarke were the highest point scorers for Europe throughout the tournament as the dynamic duo scored 58 and 57 points respectively to sail to victory.
Speaking on Europe’s impressive win, Colin Montgomerie said; “It’s good to emulate what the Ryder Cup have achieved this year in winning on American soil. Nevermind Luke Donald, we’ll go Darren Clarke two more years!”
“Yeah, massively proud of them,” Clarke added of his team. “We had a good first day at The Concession a few years ago in the inaugural event, and then we sort of fizzled away on the second two days.
“This week we all got together with all of us, the players, the wives, the caddies and everything, and our way in Europe is, when we get into a team, there’s no egos, there’s no nothing.
“I know we’ve got two Hall of Famers in our group and on our team, but nobody’s bigger than anybody else, and we all pull for each other and play for each other.”
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