When the International Federation of PGA Tours came together in 1999, their aim, in formulating the concept of the World Golf Championships, was to create a global golfing family.
That they have succeeded is testimony to the hard work and dedication of all concerned, but surely no-one involved could have envisaged a tournament such as the 2003 WGC - NEC Invitational at Firestone Country Club, won magnificently by Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke, where the theme of the family would take such a central role in the entire week.
It began with Ben Curtis, the affable young American who was the centre of attention on his competitive return to his home state of Ohio, following his sensational win in the 132nd Open Golf Championship at Royal St George’s four weeks previously.
Before events in England changed his golfing life forever, Curtis believed he had organised his private life perfectly, planning his wedding for the Saturday of NEC Invitational week, when he would be nowhere near a golf course, far less Firestone.
But, instead of sneaking off from rehearsals for a quick afternoon’s viewing of the world’s best, Curtis found himself inside the ropes and in a tie for the first round lead with Sergio Garcia after a flawless six under par 64.
Suddenly the old song, ‘Get Me To The Church On Time’ had new meaning for Curtis and his bride-to-be Candace Beatty for, if he carried on in similar vein, he had no chance of making his 6.00pm Saturday appointment at Akron United Methodist Church.
As it was, fate took over and Curtis’s second round 76 saw him drop sufficiently far down Saturday’s playing order, that he was able to meet both his family commitments on Saturday night and his golfing commitments on Sunday afternoon, finishing with rounds of 72-70 to share 30th place, ironically alongside Garcia.
Next up was Clarke’s countryman Padraig Harrington, a married man of six years, but standing on the threshold of the next stage of family life - fatherhood. With the baby late and with the blessing of wife Caroline, Harrington decided to play, but never had the mobile telephone far from his grasp.
After completing three and a half rounds, the Irishman received a text message on the 13th fairway in the final round to tell him events were beginning to move apace back home and sure enough they did, Harrington returning to Dublin on Monday morning, the proud father of baby Patrick Daniel.
And so to Clarke. The biggest talking point surrounding the larger-than-life Irishman at the start of the week was his fitness, which he himself had pinpointed as an area for consideration after huffing and puffing his way out of contention in the Masters Tournament in April.
If anything was going to test his new found stamina it would be the cloying humidity of the opening rounds which led the local paper, the wonderfully named ‘Akron Plain Dealer’ to report that people were feeling the need to ‘chew the air before attempting to breathe in.’
It was an examination that Clarke passed with flying colours. His emerald green shirt might have been darkened with perspiration but his 65 saw him tie for third with World Number One Tiger Woods before a 70 saw him sit fifth at the halfway point.
Temperatures might have cooled at the weekend but Clarke got hotter, a third round 66 outscoring playing partner Woods, who was looking for his fourth consecutive NEC Invitational victory at Firestone, by a shot and taking him to pole position, his playing partner for the final day, the unheralded American Jonathan Kaye.
With Curtis having won the Open Golf Championship and Shaun Micheel having taken the US PGA Championship, it would have been no surprise if another little known American had stepped into the limelight, but Clarke’s authority put paid to that.
Kaye, who harvests jalapeno peppers in his spare time, failed to get as hot as his hobby, three bogeys in his first six holes putting paid to his chances of victory although the 32 year old from Denver battled back bravely to post a 70 for second place, one shot clear of Davis Love III in third, but four adrift of Clarke.
Woods whipped the crowd into a frenzy in the final round with birdies at the first, seventh and eighth holes to reduce Clarke’s one time five stroke advantage to two, but if it was meant to unsettle the Irishman, all it succeeded in doing was lighting the leader’s touchpaper.
Clarke found another gear and birdies of his own at the ninth, 11th and 13th finished the tournament as a contest, allowing The European Tour Member the luxury of enjoying the closing holes content in the knowledge that, with his 67 for a 12 under par total of 268, he had become only the second player in history, after Woods, to have won more than one WGC event, following his success in the 2000 Accenture Match Play.
With the dignitaries waiting on the 18th green to begin the prize giving, Clarke requested a moment to himself to do one very important thing, namely pop behind the Recorder’s Hut, flip open his mobile phone, and call his wife Heather and sons Tyrone and Conor back home to share the moment.
His very own version, one supposes, of keeping it in the family.
Scott Crockett
