Darren Clarke promised to celebrate his British Open triumph long and hard, and the popular Northern Irishman proved as good as his word here Monday. Speaking to journalists for the traditional morning-after photo opportunity, a bleary-eyed Clarke admitted he had spent the night partying and had not had an opportunity to get any sleep.
“I’ve looked at the trophy all night and sort of semi figured out it’s mine,” said Clarke, who slurred some of his words as he clutched the famous Auld Claret jug. “I probably won’t get any sleep until tomorrow at some stage. Have to enjoy it when you can. “I had quite a few pints and quite a few glasses of red wine and it all continued until about 30 minutes ago.
“It’s been a very good night.” Clarke stopped short of his threat to fill the Claret jug with Guinness. “I’m a little bit of a traditionalist. I feel a bit funny about putting stuff in the Claret Jug that shouldn’t be in there,” he said. “There’s nothing in it as yet. That may not be the case as the week goes by!” “I have 294 (text) messages and the writing is far too small for me to look at them in this state, so I may look at them tomorrow at some stage and figure them out.” Clarke also revealed he had finally had the opportunity to speak to his two young sons, Tyrone and Conor, who lost their mother Heather to breast cancer in 2006.
Clarke, who said on Sunday that he believed his late wife had been watching over him, dedicated his first major title to his children. “Tyrone was very pleased, very proud – he said he was going to tell everybody his dad was Open Champion.
“Conor wanted to know what he could spend all the money on. “So it was a huge difference between the two, but they were both very happy.” Clarke meanwhile said he hoped Sunday’s win would elevate him into the running for the Ryder Cup captaincy at some point in the next few years.
“It is definitely still an ambition at some stage,” he said. “I think at some stage if I get the opportunity to be Ryder Cup captain, possibly I may have a little bit more respect from players having been a major champion.” Although Clarke’s ranking points from his Open victory won’t count towards qualification for next year’s Ryder Cup in Chicago, he believed Sunday’s win will have put him on captain Jose Maria Olazabal’s radar. “Unfortunately these points don’t qualify for the team next year, but in saying that, I am a major champion, so Jose Maria will be paying attention, as he always does, so we’ll see where that brings me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Darren Clarke’s victory has added fresh momentum to calls for the British Open to be staged in Northern Ireland after the country clinched its third Major in just over a year. Clarke’s memorable three-stroke win at Royal St George’s on Sunday saw the popular 42-year-old join Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell as players from Northern Ireland who have won Majors in the last 13 months. The remarkable sequence of victories by the Northern Irish trio has led to calls for the Open to be held at Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951. Royal and Ancient Club chief executive Peter Dawson admitted on Monday that the calls to reward the success of Clarke, McIlroy and McDowell by staging the event at Portrush had been given fresh momentum. “I think we’re all very aware of the fact that three winners from Northern Ireland increases the interest level in this,” Dawson said.
