Darren Clarke's British Open win was high point of long journey

A month before the Masters Tournament, Darren Clarke didn’t want to talk about golf.

“It’s always pleasant talking about Augusta, but I don’t want to talk about golf,” he said after a practice round at the WGC-Cadillac Cham­pion­ship in Florida as he prepared to return to Augusta after a five-year absence.

Though Clarke didn’t want to talk to the media, he still was happy to sign autographs and pose for pictures.

His stature has grown since winning the claret jug in July, when he closed the final round of the British Open with an even-par 70 for a three-shot win over Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickel­son.

One of Europe’s Ryder Cup heroes, Clarke claimed the victory at Royal St. George’s Golf Club five years after his wife, Heather, lost her battle with breast cancer. The win marked his first top-10 finish in a major in a decade.

“In terms of what’s going through my heart, there’s obviously somebody who is watching down from up above there, and I know she’d be very proud of me,” Clarke said after the victory. “It’s been a long journey to get here.”

Clarke’s victory continued a streak of success for Northern Ireland. Golfers from the tiny country have claimed three out of the past seven majors, starting with Graeme McDowell’s 2010 U.S. Open win. Clarke joined McDowell and Rory McIlroy, the 2011 U.S. Open winner, as first-time major winners.

The 43-year-old father of two sons now returns to the Masters, where he’s posted one top-10 finish in 10 appearances – a tie for eighth in 1998.

According to a BBC report in February, Clarke embarked on a fitness regimen late last year, gave up drinking alcohol and had lost about 20 pounds in two months. He began the new measures in an effort to regain his 2011 British Open form, something Padraig Harrington, a three-time major champion, said isn’t easy to do.

“There’s no question it’s a burden on your golf to win a major championship,” Har­ring­ton said. “It puts you under far more pressure and in the spotlight. Your expectations are that much higher. It makes the game a lot tougher.”

After winning the British Open, Clarke missed the cut at the PGA Championship and played in six other events on the European Tour to close out 2011, his best
finish a 35th-place showing at the Omega European Masters.

He climbed from No. 111 to No. 30 in the world after winning the claret jug. Since then, he’s made a steady descent, falling to No. 57 after the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

“For Darren, the toughest part is he’s always been streaky, a guy with highs and lows. Winning a major just got him to a higher high,” Harrington said. “Go talk to any of the one-time major winners. It’s a hard thing to deal with. You have to work very, very hard on handling that aspect.”