From the Sunshine State to the Bahamas to the Big Island, Darren Clarke has found his groove amid warm weather and salty air.
In November, Clarke won the TimberTech Championship in Boca Raton, Florida, for his first PGA Tour Champions victory before spending two months at his home at the Abaco Club in the Bahamas practicing for another chance at a tour win.
His next stop? The Hualalai Golf Course, which was brand-new territory for Clarke.
It didn’t take long for the 52-year-old to find his footing again.
Clarke birdied six of the back nine and shot a final round of 8-under 64 on Saturday to win the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in the tournament’s 25th year, finishing with a 195 and two strokes ahead of Retief Goosen.
“It’s amazing. Whenever I won in Boca, I liked the feeling of the win in Boca. And then to win here, I like it even more,” Clarke said. “It’s great to get into the event and then come along and play as nicely as I did to actually win. To get in the winner’s circle once, you go to a different category, and then winning this one is a different category again. I feel at home on the Champions Tour and that’s the most special thing.”
It was Clarke’s first time competing in the tournament, and he is the sixth player since 1997 to win at Hualalai in their debut, joining the company of Jerry Kelly (2018), Duffy Waldorf (2016), Miguel Angel Jimenez (2015), Loren Roberts (2006) and John Jacobs (1999).
Clarke posted his best final-round score and his best 54-hole total on PGA Tour Champions.
It was the best 54-hole score at Hualalai since Bernhard Langer won in 2014 at 194.
His win Saturday also makes him the third player to win back-to-back starts in the 2020-2021 season after Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk. Furyk also made his debut at Hualalai this weekend, finishing 11-under 205 and tied for ninth with Scott McCarron.
Clarke spent the early hours of the final round in a tight race with Goosen, Kelly and Scott Parel.
“Same as yesterday, I missed everything on the front side. I guess I don’t read them too good on the front side,” Clarke said. “But I stayed patient, and then played really nice, gave myself lots of chances, and started holing a couple of putts.”
Clarke had a one-stoke lead on Goosen when Clarke teed off on the 16th. Goosen had made par on No. 16 and birdied the 17th with Clarke looming behind by one hole.
With his competition right in front of him, Clarke had the motivation he needed to birdie on No. 16 and to sink a 50-foot birdie putt on the 17th to put him two strokes ahead of Goosen.
“Yeah, I could see everything Goose was doing, so every time he was making a birdie, I was having to try and follow him. I had to make another birdie right on top of him, playing behind him,” Clarke said. “But that’s brilliant, that’s why we play the game. We play for the competition. We play to put ourselves in the position that we want to win. That’s why we want to do it.”
Second place Goosen finished the final round 8-under 64 and 19-under for the tournament.
“It was a good week. I’ve not played since November. So I got off to a great start (Thursday) and yesterday killed me,” said Goosen, who finished Friday’s second round with a 71. “That’s the thing about the Champions Tour, you’ve got to put three rounds together, otherwise you’re not going to make it. Today I gave it a good run, but Clarkie behind me played awesome and congrats to him.”
Kelly, the second round co-leader with Clarke, closed at third with a final round 4-under 68 and 17-under for the tournament.
Parel started the back nine with an eagle at the 10th, and was even par over his last seven holes to finish 15-under and tied for fourth with Kevin Sutherland and Fred Couples
Defending champion Jimenez finished tied for 17th place with Kenny Perry, Mark O’Meara and Doug Barron at 7-under overall.
Clarke is headed back to the Bahamas, unsure of his next step due to travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But he does know he’s already ready for his next win.
“I just want to play. I know we may have an issue at the moment with immigration and it depends on coronavirus and what the U.S. is going to do. I know the PGA Tour and everybody on the Tour are working diligently to try and see what can be done,” Clarke said. “But hopefully they’ll come to a very good resolution because they’ve been very good to us so far.
“I just can’t wait to get back out and play again.”