Darren Clarke rewards fans with Visa Taiheyo win
BY Bruce Young | Japan Tour | 2004 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters | Wrap | 14 Nov 2004
It is always rewarding for the credibility of a tournament and for the organisers of that event when the number one ranked player in a tournament field wins. Today proved no exception when Darren Clarke took out the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheyo tournament near Gotemba, south of Tokyo.
Clarke was in front from very early on, his opening round of 66 grabbing a share of the first round lead. He took the outright lead during round two and from that point he was the one they were chasing. Despite an early bogey today, Clarke soon put the chasers out of their misery when he turned in two under 34 and was rock solid over the closing nine to finish with a 68 and a six shot win over Nozomi Kawahara and Lee Westwood.
44-year-old Hideki Kase continued his good recent form sharing fourth with Hidemasa Hoshino.
The leading Australasian was David Smail who finished 18th, Steve Conran was 19th, Paul Sheehan 48th and Brendan Jones 59th.
The Japan Golf Tour now heads south to Miyazaki on the southern island of Kyushu for the Dunlop Phoenix in which Tiger Woods is ready to set Japanese golf fans into a frenzy.
