“A few days before Heather passed away she said to me, ‘If Woosie calls you, you have to play’.”
This is a tale of loss and destiny: the story of how Darren Clarke and Team Europe said goodbye to the golfer’s wife, Heather, at the 2006 Ryder Cup.
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Not even Tiger Woods could ignore the emotional fever of the 2006 Ryder CupCredit: AFP
Golf is back at The K Club this weekend as Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry compete in the Irish Open.
And with it being a Ryder Cup year – many can’t help but cast their minds back to when the famous event was here.
A game of etiquette briefly lets it hair down once every two years to let rivalry run riot – but back in 2006, everyone was with Clarke. On both sides.
The scenes in Dublin that year reduced a usually-reserved Lee Westwood to tears and melted one of sport’s coldest-ever competitors in Tiger Woods.
Six weeks before it began, Heather Clarke passed away, aged 39, after battling breast cancer for several years.
Throughout her illness, she encouraged her husband to play, and insisted he accepted an unlikely wildcard from captain Ian Woosnam should it be offered to him.
“Heather would’ve wanted me to play,” Clarke said. “And the support I had through Heather’s illness, not just from the European players, but from the American players as well, the support they had given me was fantastic.”
The Northern Irishman hadn’t played since Heather’s death, but took the call nonetheless.
Paired up alongside Westwood, Clarke somehow went on to inspire Europe from the depths of grief.
It even inspired a young Shane Lowry – who has since revealed he was in the crowd and first dreamed of competing at the Ryder Cup as a 19-year-old at The K Club.
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Clarke more than justified his selectionCredit: AFP
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Harrington witnessed Clarke’s glory first-hand – and so did LowryCredit: Getty
A memorable event began with one of the greatest moments in golf history, when Clarke was roared onto the first tee on Friday.
He told Golf Channel: “The emotion from everyone on that first tee was just incredible.
“I get onto the tee with the ball in my I hand, I look at Lee, and he’s crying. And Billy, his caddie, is crying.
“I was like, ‘Hang on a second, I’ve got to try and hit this!’
“I put the ball down and I didn’t know if I was going to top it, hit it 40 yards, left, right, or whatever. I had no idea.
“I’m standing there over the ball and I thought, ‘Just make contact’.
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Westwood is not usually one for emotionsCredit: Getty
“The ball came off and went 320 yards off the stick into the middle of the fairway.
“To this day, I have no idea how I managed to do that. You talk about how cool I was in the last round of The Open [in 2011].
“That wasn’t even a patch on that first tee shot at the K Club.”
The likes of Phil Mickelson and Woods were among his victims over the week as Clarke won all three of his matches, and even Team USA could not deny him the moment.
Even Woods, typically stone-hearted at tournaments, stopped his practice before the event began and gave his rival a warm embrace on the driving range.
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Mickelson was beaten by Clarke on the FridayCredit: Getty
Upon making birdie on that opening hole, Mickelson and fellow opponent Chris DiMarco were the first to congratulate Clarke.
After claiming victory in the match, Mickelson’s wife Amy was there to give the European a hug.
Woods didn’t pick many friends on Tour in his pomp, but he liked Clarke – the cigar-smoking, unchiseled man who took the exact opposite approach to golf.
The legendary American star was there again on Sunday to comfort Clarke after his singles triumph over Zach Johnson.
That was despite Team USA being thrashed at the hands of Europe, mainly thanks to Clarke.
Woods said: “For him to come and play is one thing, but for him to play as well as he did, with as much time off as he has taken, that was remarkable.
“We’re big friends and I’m very proud to see him play as well as he did.”
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Woods lost to Clarke on the Saturday
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But still embraced him on the Sunday
Woosnam told Clarke it was destiny – and even sport’s biggest cynics would struggle to deny the magic of the occasion.
After keeping it together for three days, Clarke burst into tears on the 18th, and there was barely a dry eye in the house.
Sport’s most powerful moments are all driven by a feeling that something greater and transcendent is happening.
And as Woosman later put it: “In 2006, the Ryder Cup was all about Darren Clarke and the European team saying goodbye to Heather Clarke.”
