McIlroy, Clarke far from Grand in Bermuda

[caption id="attachment_67512" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Darren Clarke, left, and Rory McIlroy."]

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Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke manned the caboose in the Grand Slam of Golf at Bermuda's Port Royal Golf Course last week. PGA champ Keegan Bradley won the 36-hole event that brings together the winners of the year's major championships. He shot 138, which was four strokes under par and one better than Charl Schwartzel, the Masters champion, who mounted a furious rally in the second round. Schwartzel nearly forced a playoff when his birdie putt on 18 in the final round narrowly missed the cup.

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McIlroy (U.S. Open) shared the lead with Bradley after both left the course with first-round scores of 67. Bradley, who put two eagles on his card on the front nine in the first round, was nowhere near as fortunate in the second round, when he picked up three bogeys through the first six holes, while McIlroy played evenly. Then, their fortunes turned.

A McIlroy bogey and a Bradley birdie at the seventh, trimmed the former's lead to a stroke. Consecutive bogeys by McIlroy at the next two holes then put Bradley in the driver's seat. McIlroy played the round without a birdie, taking on another bogey at 16 to finish the day with 75.

"I didn't have control of the golf ball like I did yesterday," McIlroy said. "It was tough; the wind out there was tough. It was tricky. I just didn't do enough when I needed to."

Bradley, meanwhile, worked out birdies at 10 and 17, which were just enough to stave off Schwartzel, who went on a tear beginning at the fifth hole in the second round. He put a birdie on his card there and didn't stop over the remainder of the front nine. A lone bogey at 13 compromised Schwartzel's chances. Compensating birdies at 15 and 17 left him one short of Bradley.

As for Clarke, who shot rounds of 77 and 74, his best work was done in the hotel bar. Asked after the first round if he could offer any words of encouragement regarding his effort, Clarke retorted, "Absolutely not. It was absolute crap. I didn't come all the way here to play that bad. I'll try to find the answer in the bottom of a glass this evening and see how that works."

No need to do the math; the answer is three strokes better.

"Obviously, I haven't played well the past two days, but it's been a pleasure to be here, thoroughly enjoyed it," Clarke said after the event had concluded. "Even though I got a little bit annoyed when I was out on the golf course, it's been great, really good."

Interestingly, Clarke played the six holes that he'd either bogeyed or worse in the first round evenly during the second round. And the five holes he took bogey on in the second round, he'd played evenly the day before.

Clarke indicated that the change in climate from the windy environs of Northern Ireland to the calm breezes of Bermuda required a swing adjustment that remains a work in progress.

"I've just been making a few changes and getting way too steep on my backswing, and that's from playing in a lot of wind," Clarke said. "Been doing that at home and just have to get it back again. A shame I played so poorly this week, but I'm here for a good reason [having won the British Open], so not too bad, not all bad. Looking forward to a very bad hangover in the morning."

Clarke also indicated that he so enjoyed his time in Bermuda that he was going to stay on with family and friends, and withdraw from this week's European Tour event in Valderrama, Spain.

PGA TOUR Q-SCHOOL

First-stage qualifying concluded at seven venues last week, with two Irishmen heaving a sigh of relief and making plans for next month's second stage, while four others invoked the old Brooklyn Dodgers rallying cry.

Waterford's Seamus Power comfortably rolled in with a 3-stroke cushion at The Club at Irish Creek in Kannapolis, N.C. The East Tennessee State grad finished joint-eighth in the field, carding 277 (70-70-68-69), which was 16 strokes behind runaway winner Clint Jensen (who won by 11) and well ahead of the 280 that turned out to be the cutoff number.

Chris Devlin, a former teammate of Graeme McDowell at Alabama-Birmingham, took a step closer to joining the fellow Northerner with his 13th-place tie at Stonebridge Ranch in McKinney, Tex. Devlin, a Ballymena native who has knocked around on American mini-tours for several years, with a U.S. Open also on his resume, shot 285 (72-71-75-67), which left him 16 strokes behind another long-gone medalist in Oscar Serna (who won by nine), but, more importantly, two strokes better than the score that would have sent him packing.

Also on the course at Stonebridge Ranch was Mark Murphy, fresh off his performance in The Golf Channel's Big Break Ireland.

Waterford's Barry O'Neill; Stephen Grant of County Offaly.

Finally, there is Keith Nolan, who is something of a walking cautionary tale of how early success guarantees nothing in this sport. Nolan, originally of Bray, Co. Wicklow, enjoyed Walker Cup success and All-American status at East Tennessee State, and qualified for the PGA Tour in his first spin at Q-School back in 1997. His aggregate 293 (74-77-72-70) was off the high qualifying number by two strokes.

First-stage qualifying continues this week at seven sites, with second stage commencing the third week of November at six sites. This week's aspirants include Fergal Rafferty of Carrickmore, Omagh at Lantana Golf Club in Lantana, Tex. The 108-round finale is scheduled for Nov. 30-Dec. 5 at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif.

 

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