OPINION

By Jim Litke

updated 1:20 a.m. ET Sept. 23, 2006

Jim Litke

STRAFFAN, Ireland - He hugged everyone, his playing partner, captain, caddie, his opponents and their caddies, too, even one of their wives.

That’s because Darren Clarke will never again hold the one person he wanted to hug most. Almost six weeks after Heather Clarke succumbed to cancer, her husband of 10 years stood on the first tee Friday morning at the Ryder Cup and stared through misting eyes down the barrel of the toughest tee shot he ever faced.

He striped it.

“I don’t know how I managed to do that. Sort of tee it up and get it somewhere down there, and it went flush, flush, flush and made a 3.

“It was,” Clarke added a moment later, “good.”

It was better than that actually, a birdie that set the tone for a match in which Clarke and trusty sidekick Lee Westwood outlasted the American duo of Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco 1-up. Soon after it was official, and not long after Clarke buried his head on a few shoulders and was embraced by Amy Mickelson, someone asked whether the tears welling in his eyes at the end were a sign of joy or relief.

“Emotions, hopefully, you won’t ever have to feel,” Clarke replied. “That’s basically what they were.”

36th Ryder Cup Europe 18 1/2, United States 9 1/2 Record-tying rout for Europe | Results   Slide show: Top images from The K Club   Discuss: What went wrong for U.S. team? Opinion: Tiger not to blame | Has ideas Opinion: Get used to these Euro routs Clarke wraps up emotional, successful week Woosnam's choices on money | Euros rejoice McGinley's concession denied shot at record Tiger wins after caddie lets one slip away Verplank gets first American ace Individual points | All-time champions The K Club (pdf. file) | Future sites

Much has been made about how Europeans dominate the Ryder Cup — winning four of the last five and seven of the last 10 — because they play like a team instead of a collection of talented individuals. That was apparent even in Thursday’s opening ceremonies, when the Americans again were introduced, beginning with Tiger Woods, according to their world rankings and the Europeans, as always, in alphabetical order.

Much has been made, too, about how Clarke’s recent loss would bind an already close-knit bunch even tighter. There was plenty to support that theory, too.

In a classy gesture, he was hugged by Mickelson and DiMarco on the first tee and then was wrapped up in an ovation so long, loud and warm that you half-expected Clarke to float off down the fairway behind his golf ball. Every grandstand after that treated him to an encore, and along almost every fairway, cheers broke out ahead of Clarke to replace those that died out behind.

“I was very, very wary of trying not to make it too loud,” he said, “in case that would be perceived as using the crowd in my favor. That’s not what I wanted at all. I was very grateful for the support. I think they showed me that they care.”

A quieter but just as powerful dynamic is at work behind the scenes. Clarke’s teammates, mindful of how often he’s delivered in past Ryder Cups, have tried their level best to provide support without having it feel like pity. Clark made that delicate task easy.

“He’s sort of the rock on our team,” Paul Casey said. “It’s been very emotional, but we’re all there for him, and I think he’s having a cracking time so far.”

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