Open champion Clarke commits to Euro Tour event in Korea

Darren Clarke, the reigning Open Championship winner, has committed to the only European Tour event in South Korea set for this spring, organizers said Tuesday.

Organizers of the Ballantine’s Championship announced that Clarke, from Northern Ireland, will play in the April 26-29 tournament, vying for $2.9 million in total purse. This is the most lucrative golf tournament held in the country and is co-sanctioned by the European Tour, Asian Tour and Korean Golf Tour. 

The 43-year-old won the 2011 Open Championship, also known as the British Open, for his first major title. He has won 14 times on the European Tour and also has three victories on the PGA Tour.

This will be Clarke’s first tournament appearance in South Korea.

Clarke also represented Europe in the Ryder Cup, a biennial competition pitting European golfers against Americans, on five occasions, and served as a non-playing vice captain in 2010.

This is the tournament’s fifth year in South Korea. After three years on Jeju Island in the southern region, the event moved to Blackstone Golf Club in Icheon, about 80 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Blackstone will be the host until 2013.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, last year’s runner-up, and Adam Scott, the No. 8 golfer in the world, will also join the field. This is Scott’s first tournament in Korea since 2002.

Last year, then world No. 1 Lee Westwood won his first Ballantine’s.

The Englishman was the first No. 1 golfer to play in a tournament held in South Korea.

No Korean has won the championship yet. Graeme McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open champion, was the inaugural Ballantine’s winner in 2008, followed by Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand in 2009 and Australia’s Marcus Fraser in 2010. 

(Yonhap News)