Darren Clarke

Clarke turned professional in 1990 and he played his first full season on the European Tour in 1991. He contested in his first major championship at the 1991 Open Championship, making the cut before finishing in a tie for 64th place. In 1992 Clarke had a solid season on the European Tour, finishing 41st in overall Order of Merit, in doing so achieving the highest finish of his career at the time with a second-place finish at the Honda Open. He finished three strokes behind champion Bernhard Langer.

Clarke's real breakthrough year was in 1993 when he won his maiden European Tour event and played his way to 8th position on the Order of Merit. After a relatively solid but unspectacular first half of the season, Clarke's form improved greatly during the August–September stretch, achieving four top-10 finishes in four consecutive tournaments.

In October 1993, Clarke won his maiden European Tour event at the Alfred Dunhill Open in Belgium. Clarke had the lead after 54 holes and held off the challenge of Englishman Nick Faldo and Vijay Singh, who shot a final-round 64. Clarke prevailed by two strokes. A month later Clarke nearly won his second title at the European Tour's season-ending Volvo Masters, however, he was pipped to the title by Colin Montgomerie who finished one stroke clear. Overall for the season Clarke made 24 out of 30 cuts and finished in the top-10 on seven occasions.

The follow-up year in 1994 was another solid season for Clarke on the tour, making 17 of 21 cuts and finishing 37th on the Order of Merit list. Clarke also played in his first U.S. Open although he missed the cut and had his highest finish, at the time, in The Open Championship with a tie for 38th place. In 1995, Clarke had better success, with seven top-10s in 27 events, most notably at the Portuguese Open where he finished second after losing a sudden-death playoff to Adam Hunter on the first extra hole, despite having the joint 54-hole lead. Clarke ended the year 14th on the Order of Merit.

In 1996, Clarke won his second European Tour title at the Linde German Masters by one stroke, shooting a final round 63 to finish 24 under par, one stroke ahead of Englishman Mike Davis. Clarke also recorded his best finish in a major, at that time, with a tie for 11th place at The Open Championship in 1996. He also equalled his best finish on the Order of Merit, placing in 8th for the season.

In May 1997, Clarke finished second at the Volvo PGA Championship, two strokes behind Ian Woosnam. In July 1997, Clarke was in a position to win his first major championship at the 1997 Open Championship at Royal Troon. Clarke held the lead with American Jim Furyk after the first round and then pulled two strokes clear of the field after a 66 in the second round, but a third-round 71 put him two strokes behind leader Jesper Parnevik going into the final day. However, the winner was not to come from the final pairing, as Justin Leonard came storming through the pack with a 65 to beat both Clarke and Parnevik by three strokes. Clarke ended the season 4th on the Order of Merit.

In 1998, Clarke made his first appearances at two of the biggest golf events worldwide. He missed the cut on his debut at The Players Championship, but his first visit to Augusta National Golf Club was much more successful, shooting 67–69 on the weekend to finish in a tie for 8th at the Masters Tournament. This remains his highest-ever finish at the Masters to date.

In May 1998, Clarke won his third career event on the European Tour at the Benson & Hedges International Open by three strokes from Santiago Luna. Clarke then had three more 2nd-place finishes during the season before winning the season-ending Volvo Masters in Spain. His two victories in 1998 helped him to finish in 2nd place on the final 1998 Order of Merit standings behind Colin Montgomerie. Clarke missed only one cut all year, at the Murphy's Irish Open. In 1999, Clarke captured his fifth European Tour win at the Compass Group English Open, finishing two strokes ahead of John Bickerton. He also achieved his highest-ever placing at the U.S. Open this year when he finished tied for 10th place.

Clarke's worldwide breakthrough came in 2000 when he won his first World Golf Championship event, defeating Tiger Woods in the final 4&3 at the 2000 WGC-Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship at La Costa Resort and Spa. This was Clarke's biggest victory of his career so far as he netted the $1 million first prize. Clarke had a difficult route through the championship but defeated a host of big-name players: Paul Azinger, Mark O'Meara, Thomas Bjørn, Hal Sutton and David Duval before taking on Woods in the final.^[5]

Clarke's fine year in 2000 continued when he finished tied for second place in the Volvo PGA Championship and the following week he won his seventh European Tour event at the Compass Group English Open. Clarke also recorded his best finish at the PGA Championship with a tie for 9th place. He also had three 2nd-place finishes in the 2000 season, which included eleven top-10 finishes. He finished 2nd on the Order of Merit and it was his highest-ever season in terms of prize money. Clarke earned over €2.7 million for the year.

The 2001 season saw Clarke finish one place lower on the Order of Merit in 3rd place, although he did manage some notable results on tour during this season. Clarke added to his list of European Tour wins at the Smurfit European Open, which he won by three strokes at The K Club. A couple of weeks later, Clarke produced another fine performance at The Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes, finishing in a tie for 3rd place, four strokes behind the eventual winner David Duval. Clarke then had another notable 3rd-place finish at the WGC-NEC Invitational, earning in excess of €400,000.

In 2002, Clarke played on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour. In the buildup to the Masters, Clarke played the Shell Houston Open and finished second behind runaway winner Vijay Singh. He then played on the European Tour in the summer and won his ninth career title at the Compass Group English Open, becoming the first man to win the tournament three times.

In the 2003 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Clarke lost to Peter Lonard at the quarter-final stage. However, Clarke did not have to wait much longer for more WGC success though, when he won his second WGC event at the WGC-NEC Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.^[6] He finished four strokes ahead of Jonathan Kaye. Clarke's run of success throughout 2001–2003 saw him miss only three cuts on the European Tour in three years and he finished 2nd on the European Order of Merit for the third time in his career.

Clarke continued his run of good form at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in 2004, when he finished third. He lost to Davis Love III in the semi-final on the 21st hole, but beat Stephen Leaney 2-up in the resulting 3rd place playoff match. Clarke also had a good finish at the WGC-American Express Championship, finishing in a tie for 4th place. Despite winning over $2 million in prize money, Clarke did not win an event during the 2004 season on either tour and this was the first time this had happened since 1997.

Clarke played the 2005 season half and half between the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He enjoyed a solid season with many top-10 finishes, but he could not climb the final hurdle of winning an event. The highlights of his year were a 2nd-place finish at the Barclays Scottish Open in Europe and another 2nd place at the MCI Heritage in the United States. With Clarke playing much fewer tournaments on the European Tour he only finished 20th on the Order of Merit compared to his previous success in this category.

In 2006, Clarke only managed to record four top-10 placings and finished the year 43rd on the Order of Merit. However, just six weeks after the death of his wife, Heather, he made a big contribution to Europe's Ryder Cup win in 2006 at the K Club in Ireland. Clarke was one of Ian Woosnam's two wild card picks and he earned three points on the way to victory for Europe, including a 3 & 2 win in his singles match against Zach Johnson. The 2007 season was the worst of Clarke's professional career. He did not record any top-10 finishes. He withdrew from a number of events in the year and finished 143rd on the Order of Merit list.

Clarke ended his winless streak in April 2008 when he won the BMW Asian Open in an emotional victory after a birdie on the 72nd hole to see off Robert-Jan Derksen by one stroke. This was Clarke's first win in almost five years and the 11th of his career. The win broke the shackles from the slump in form he went through in the previous years and his 12th victory was not far around the corner. Clarke won again in the Netherlands at the KLM Open finishing the tournament four shots ahead of Paul McGinley. Clarke ended his comeback year 13th in the Order of Merit Standings, however, he missed out on a place in Nick Faldo's Ryder Cup team, the first time Clarke had done so in over 10 years.

The 2009 and 2010 seasons were steady in progress for Clarke as he began to rebuild his form following the successful 2008 season. He only managed to record three top-10 finishes during the whole of 2009, most notably tying for 5th place in the defence of his KLM Open title in the Netherlands. Clarke finished 61st in the Race to Dubai Standings and missed out a place in the season-ending finale narrowly by finishing outside the top 60. In 2010, however, he did make it into the Dubai Finals after finishing 30th at the end of the year. He was aided by two second-place finishes throughout the season at the Joburg Open behind winner Charl Schwartzel and then at the Barclays Scottish Open ending up three strokes behind Edoardo Molinari.

In 2011, Clarke won his first European Tour title since August 2008 with a three-stroke victory over Chris Wood and David Lynn in the Iberdrola Open.^[7][8] After finishing tied for third in the 2001 Open Championship, Clarke did not make the top-10 of any major, until he won his first major championship at the 2011 Open at the age of 42 – his 20th attempt at winning the Claret Jug.^[9]

Clarke dedicated his victory to his two children and late wife Heather, who died of breast cancer in 2006: "In terms of what's going through my heart, there's obviously somebody who is watching from up above there, and I know she'd be very proud of me. But I think she'd be more proud of my two boys and them at home watching more than anything else. It's been a long journey to get here."^[10][11]

With Clarke's triumph in The Open at Royal St George's, it was the first time since 1910 that one country (other than the United States) had different golfers win consecutive majors.^[12]Rory McIlroy, also of Northern Ireland, captured the 2011 U.S. Open title one month earlier at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. Clarke's victory at the 2011 Open meant that he became the third major winner from Northern Ireland in 13 months, following Graeme McDowell's win in the 2010 U.S. Open and Rory McIlroy's victory in the 2011 U.S. Open, prompting McIlroy to quip that Northern Ireland was the 'Golf Capital of the World'.^[13]

In November 2020, Clarke won the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, Florida for his first win on the PGA Tour Champions. It was his first worldwide since he won The Open Championship in 2011. Clarke collected his second win at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Hawaii just 3 months later. In September 2021, Clarke won the Sanford International in a playoff over K. J. Choi and Steve Flesch.^[14]

In July 2022, Clarke won his first senior major championship at The Senior Open Championship, played at Gleneagles in Scotland. He won by one shot over Pádraig Harrington. He also became the fourth player in history to win both The Open Championship and The Senior Open Championship.^[15]

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin ofvictory	Runner(s)-up
1	10 Oct 1993	Alfred Dunhill Open	−14 (68-68-66-68=270)	2 strokes	Nick Faldo, Vijay Singh
2	6 Oct 1996	Linde German Masters	−24 (70-64-67-63=264)	1 stroke	Mark Davis
3	17 May 1998	Benson & Hedges International Open	−15 (70-69-67-67=273)	3 strokes	Santiago Luna
4	1 Nov 1998	Volvo Masters	−17 (67-73-68-63=271)	2 strokes	Andrew Coltart
5	6 Jun 1999	Compass Group English Open	−20 (68-65-67-68=268)	2 strokes	John Bickerton
6	27 Feb 2000	WGC-Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship	4 and 3		Tiger Woods
7	4 Jun 2000	Compass Group English Open (2)	−13 (70-72-68-65=275)	1 stroke	Michael Campbell, Mark James
8	8 Jul 2001	Smurfit European Open	−15 (68-68-71-66=273)	3 strokes	Thomas Bjørn, Pádraig Harrington,Ian Woosnam
9	9 Jun 2002	Compass Group English Open (3)	−17 (65-70-68-68=271)	3 strokes	Søren Hansen
10	24 Aug 2003	WGC-NEC Invitational	−12 (65-70-66-67=268)	4 strokes	Jonathan Kaye
11	27 Apr 2008	بي إم دبليو آسيا المفتوحة 1	-8 (71-69-67-73=280)	ضربة واحدة	روبرت-يان ديركسن
12	24 أغسطس 2008	كي إل إم أوبن	-16 (68-64-66-66=264)	4 ضربات	بول ماكجينلي
13	15 مايو 2011	بطولة إيبردرولا المفتوحة	-6 (65-70-70-69=274)	3 ضربات	ديفيد لين ، كريس وود
14	17 يوليو 2011	بطولة بريطانيا المفتوحة	-5 (68-68-69-70=275)	3 ضربات	داستن جونسون ، فيل ميكلسون

^1. برعاية مشتركة من الجولة الآسيوية

سجل التصفيات في الجولة الأوروبية (0-1)

لا.	سنة	البطولة	الخصم	نتيجة
1	1995	بطولة البرتغال المفتوحة	آدم هنتر	خسرت أمام بيردي في الحفرة الإضافية الأولى

لا.	تاريخ	البطولة	نتيجة الفوز	هامش الفوز	المركز الثاني
1	29 أبريل 2001	ذا كراونز	-13 (66-67-67-67=267)	4 ضربات	كيشيرو فوكابوري ، شينيتشي يوكوتا
2	14 نوفمبر 2004	ميتسوي سوميتومو فيزا تايهيو ماسترز	-22 (66-65-67-68=266)	6 ضربات	نوزومي كاواهارا ، لي ويستوود
3	13 نوفمبر 2005	ميتسوي سوميتومو فيزا تايهيو ماسترز (2)	-18 (66-71-65-68=270)	شوطين	ميتسوهيرو تاتياما

سجل التصفيات في جولة الجولف اليابانية (0-1)

لا.	سنة	البطولة	الخصوم	نتيجة
1	1999	سوميتومو فيزا تايهيو ماسترز	ريوكين كاواجيشي ، هيروفومي مياسي	فاز مياسي بالتعادل في الحفرة الإضافية الثانية، بينما خرج كاواغيشي بالتعادل في الحفرة الأولى.

لا.	تاريخ	البطولة	نتيجة الفوز	هامش الفوز	المركز الثاني
1	4 فبراير 2001	دايمنشن داتا برو-آم	-14 (71-63-69-71=274)	شوطين	ريتيف جوسين ، تيارت فان دير والت

سجل جولة صن شاين في التصفيات (0-1)

لا.	سنة	البطولة	الخصم	نتيجة
1	1999	بطولة فوداكوم للاعبين	نيك هينينغ	خسرت أمام بيردي في الحفرة الإضافية الثانية

لا.	تاريخ	البطولة	نتيجة الفوز	هامش الفوز	المركز الثاني
1	1992	بطولة أولستر للمحترفين
2	22 مايو 1994	بطولة سمورفيت الأيرلندية للمحترفين	285	3 ضربات	ريموند بيرنز
3	5 يوليو 2010	بطولة جي بي ماكمانوس للمحترفين والهواة	-3 (73-68=141)	ضربة واحدة	لوك دونالد
4	21 يوليو 2010	تحدي بحيرة إيرن (مع روري ماكلروي )	-6 (66)	ضربة واحدة	بادريج هارينجتون وشين لوري

سجل آخر في الأدوار الإقصائية (0-1)

لا.	سنة	البطولة	الخصوم	نتيجة
1	2005	تحدي نيدبانك للجولف	جيم فوريك ، ريتيف جوسن ، آدم سكوت	فاز فيوريك بضربة بيردي في الحفرة الإضافية الثانية، بينما خرج جوسن من المنافسة بضربة بار في الحفرة الأولى.

لا.	تاريخ	البطولة	نتيجة الفوز	هامش الفوز	المركز الثاني
1	1 نوفمبر 2020	بطولة تيمبرتك	-17 (69-62-68=199)	ضربة واحدة	جيم فيوريك ، برنارد لانجر
2	23 يناير 2021	بطولة ميتسوبيشي الكهربائية في هوالالاي	-21 (63-68-64=195)	شوطين	ريتيف جوسن
3	19 سبتمبر 2021	سانفورد إنترناشونال	-12 (63-70-65=198)	يتنحنح	كي جيه تشوي ، ستيف فليش
4	24 يوليو 2022	بطولة كبار السن المفتوحة	-10 (65-67-69-69=270)	ضربة واحدة	بادريج هارينغتون
5	8 يونيو 2025	American Family Insurance Championship(with Thomas Bjørn)	−32 (59-58-64=181)	4 strokes	Doug Barron and Dicky Pride,Alex Čejka and Søren Kjeldsen,Steve Flesch and Paul Goydos,Steve Stricker and Mario Tiziani
6	7 Jun 2026	American Family Insurance Championship (2)(with Ben Crane)	−30 (62-54-67=183)	1 stroke	George McNeill and Kenny Perry

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	2021	Sanford International	K. J. Choi, Steve Flesch	Won with birdie on second extra holeFlesch eliminated by par on first hole

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" indicates a tie for a place NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

• Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2000 Masters – 2001 Open Championship)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2000 Open Championship – 2000 PGA)

¹Cancelled due to 9/11

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = Tied WD = Withdrew NT = No tournament Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Results not in chronological order

"T" indicates a tie for a place CUT = missed the halfway cut NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic