The Open 2011

Darren Clarke won a thrilling last round of golf as Northern Ireland Golf and British golf is on an high. It was a tight start to the final day as the American charge was on to grab back the majors as Mickelson and Dusty Johnson lead the charge for the Americans. Every hole they were closing in on him but then the weather turned for the worse. The American charge seemed to wilt away while Clarke power started to wise through. The lead went up from 2 shots than 3 shots and once it went to 4 shots everyone knew had won the open. Despite missing for Par at the last Darren Clarke still won the open by a clear 3 shots at 5 under par. When some people said because of the weather the winning but be par of even over-par to win it shows how well he did to win. Mickelson was the closest competitor. For the Americans they were here to prove a point to not rule them out and they did that even without winning as the leader-board showed at the end. The fans were delighted because they felt he was the people's champion as he likes a smoke and an beer so this connected with the fans.

This is on the back of some great golf by British players. The top 2 in the world rankings are 1 Luke Donald and 2nd- Lee Westwood from England. The last 3 of the last 5 major champions comes from Northern Ireland Graeme McDowell success last year and Rory McIlroy success this year in America. He said afterwards "This means a lot to me and my family and as you may know there is someone up there looking down on me as well". He is also the oldest Master's champion in the 21st century and also he has guaranteed for the next 5 years to play in all the 4 majors without having to think of qualification or ranking. His ranking moved up 30 places to world number 111.

Fellow Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy has hinted that he might move back to the PGA tour. It is understood that the pressure and the media attention is a lot back in Britain and Europe after winning the open so moving back to America would make sense. It also makes golfing sense as 3 of the 4 opens are in America so getting use to the country again may not be a bad idea and also big competitions are down in America.