Clarke is the new jolly greens giant

London: Don't they erect statues for performances as epic as this? Whatever was thrown at Darren Clarke on Sunday, whether it was the pitiless weather, an outward half of astonishing brilliance from Phil Mickelson or some robust athleticism from Dustin Johnson, the man from Northern Ireland could not be moved.

Never mind the Giant's Causeway. Here was a giant with a cause, determined to fulfil a destiny forged on one of the world's great links, but which everyone bar Clarke and his inner team thought had passed him by. So the Royal and Ancient won't take the open to Portrush? Well, the Claret Jug is going there now.

From first light they clogged the roads into the small hamlet of Sandwich in the hope of seeing this outcome. They wanted to cheer on the best links golfer of his generation, the man who has seen more than his fair share of tragedy. Over four hours they craned for a view and through the wind and the rain, more than 40,000 people made sure this Liverpool fan never walked alone.

Amidst everything that went on around him, Clarke remained calmness itself. In the process, he wrote one of the most romantic tales even the long history of the open has ever produced.

Five years on from the untimely death of his wife Heather, Clarke has pieced his life together to find a new love and now win the biggest trophy in the game.

Last month it was Holywood and Rory McIlroy at the US open. This was pure Hollywood and a Clarke victory that read like a movie script. Then there's the Northern Ireland angle. Have we ever seen anything like what has happened these past 13 months?

For a small province of 1.5 million people to win one major seemed wonderful; two was amazing. But a third takes it to another realm. This might be the best story sport has ever told.

Come on Darren, it's your turn. That's what he was told by any number of people at McIlroy's homecoming party last month. They all wanted to see the great patriarch of Northern Irish golf follow Graeme McDowell and Rory and win a major of his own. But did anyone seriously think it would happen? Isn't it what people say to be polite and make sure someone doesn't feel left out? Now Darren gets a homecoming party all of his own.

Morale-building putt

On Saturday, Clarke had delivered such an exhibition of links golf that former Ryder Cup player Ken Brown described it as the best round of ball-striking he had seen. On Sunday, Clarke made up for it on the first three greens. On the first he rolled in a morale-building par putt of 15 feet. At the second he holed from 5 feet for a birdie and at the third sank a ten-footer for par.

He was on his way and the many thousands who followed him dared to dream. Not for long, mind. Not when Mickelson began his charge. It is hard to truly do justice to the quality of his front nine of 30 strokes. Never let it be said again that the left-hander can't play links golf. Here it was blowing gusts of over 60 km/h but Mickelson played his first seven holes in a scarcely credible five under par. Those who were finishing were predicting the winning total would be one or two under, so tough were the conditions. Here we had Clarke moving impressively to five under and still he could not shake off Mickelson.

Would the 42 year old trying to win the open at the 20th attempt succumb to nerves and be suffocated by the immensity of the occasion? The answer came at the par-five seventh where he rolled in a 20-foot putt for an eagle three. The rain poured down but Clarke punched his fist in defiance of both the elements and his peers. It was one of the great moments in an afternoon containing many of them.