At the beginning of the first day of play at Royal St George’s in Sandwich, Darren Clarke was a rank outsider at 200-1.
By 6:15pm on Sunday, however, a bogey on the 18th was enough to hand the veteran Northern Irishman his first major championship at the wisened age of 42.
Darren Clarke winner of the 2011 British Open
Darren, who was a vice-captain of this year’s Laureus Spirit of Sport Award winners: the European Ryder Cup team, finally ‘broke his duck’ at his 54th attempt.
And, having not reached a top ten standing in a major for a full ten years, here at Laureus we’ve been left wondering whether we might have in contention one of the most… “mature” winners ever of the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award following his victory; particularly if his result in August’s final major of the year (the USPGA) is as successful.
Meanwhile, with a view to a possible future Laureus winner, we really want to congratulate the young brit Tom Lewis, who won the Silver Medal for best amateur.
Considering all the surprises the weekend of golf had to offer, we would love to hear your thoughts on this year’s Open Championship.
Now he has finally won a major, do you think Clarke can add any further to his list of achievements? Does Tom Lewis have what it takes to go on to major glory?
And, of the three world-class Northern Irish golfers to have won majors in the past year, who do you think is the strongest? McIlroy, McDowell or, yesterday’s winner, Clarke???
Let us know your thoughts in the box below and be sure to follow us on twitter @LaureusSport for the latest Laureus news and blogs!
1. Guess who? Yes, it’s that man Usain Bolt again, following up his 100m WR with an equally astonishing 200m record of 19.19 seconds.
Bolt’s performance at the world championships has led many journalists and commentators to state that he has now overtaken Woods and Federer as the world’s foremost sportsman. In fact, the only obstacle he now faces is continuing to improve on his own performances. Perhaps that’s why he has turned his eyes to the long jump.
2. England win the Ashes. The England captain Andrew Strauss was deservedly Man of the Series but it was Andrew Flintoff who once again produced one of the iconic moments of the series by running out Ricky Ponting with a bullet throw at the stumps. Even if you’re someone who couldn’t give a monkey’s about cricket, you should be able to appreciate the skill involved in this…
3. If Usain Bolt didn’t exist, Kenenisa Bekele would undoubtedly be the King of Athletics. Read more
1) 9.58 seconds. Usain Bolt.
He may be Sportsman of the Year but is he the greatest athlete of all time?
2) Golf – In any other week the top spot would have been taken by South Korea’s Yang Yong-Eun, who became the first Asian-born winner of a major championship when he beat Tiger Woods at the USPGA. Yang is definitely a contender for the 2010 Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award. This is Yang’s amazing 75 foot chip for an eagle at the 14th, giving him the lead and ultimately the victory:
This was a week for the big boys. They showed us that form is temporary but class is permanent, that the cream will always rise to the top, that the business end of the season is upon us and that the world of sport loves a good cliche. So here’s our countdown:
1) Golf – Tiger Woods produced a Tigerish performance to overhaul Padraig Harrington and win the World Golf Championship at Firestone. It all happened at the par-five 16th hole where Woods struck a magical 8 iron to give himself a birdie and the lead, after the Irishman carded a disastrous triple bogey. Luckily for the rest of us we’ll get to see the two of them pair up at the USPGA Championship on Thursday.
That 8 iron…
2) Cricket – Australia levelled the Ashes series in emphatic fashion on Sunday afternoon by inflicting an ‘innings and 80 runs’ defeat (that’s huge if you’re not much of a cricket fan) on England. Plenty of great moments from the Aussies but we’ll go for Marcus North’s century as our favourite.
3) X-Games – Travis Pastrana is an X Games legend. Unfortunately even legends get it wrong occasionally, as happened with this Toilet Paper Roll attempt at X Games XV. Read more
1. Golf – Tom Watson didn’t win The Open Championship but he captured the hearts of millions around the world with an unbelievable performance at the age of 59. If Watson had won it would have been one of the sporting stories of the century, but his bogey at the 18th hole on the final day saw him slip in to playoff with Stewart Cink, which he eventually lost.
2. Cricket - After scraping a draw in Cardiff, the England cricket team managed to post their first win over the Australians at Lords since 1934. Read more
