Darren Clarke gave himself the perfect boost on Sunday for his head-to-head clash with Tiger Woods at this week's United States Open.

The Ulsterman defied some foul weather at the Forest of Arden to win his third Compass Group English Open title in four years.

Clarke ended an 11-month barren spell by splashing his way to a three-stroke victory, his superb closing 68 giving him the £133,330 first prize with a 17-under-par total of 271.

Dane Soren Hansen - no relation to Volvo PGA winner Anders - was second after three closing birdies and Clarke's Ryder Cup team-mate Phillip Price was third for the second week running, this time jointly with France's Raphael Jacquelin.

Now Clarke will hope to display the same form when he is paired with Woods in the first two rounds at Bethpage Park - at 7,214 yards the longest course ever used for the US Open. And, amazingly, a par 70.

Woods already knows what he is capable of. Two years ago in the world match play championship in California they clashed in the final and Clarke turned on the style to take the million-dollar first prize by a four and three margin.

The 33-year-old was the only player in the world's top 30 taking part in the English Open and his class showed.

He shared the first round lead with Australian Jarrod Moseley, the second round with Scottish rookie David Drysdale and the third with Jacquelin.

None of them could stay with him - and nor could Hansen and Warwickshire's Steve Webster after they climbed into joint top spot early in the final round.

There is no doubt which two holes won it for Clarke. The 466-yard sixth is one of the toughest on the course, but the Ryder Cup star played it in three under, his second shot today stopping just six inches from the cup.

That was good, but the 547-yard 12th was even better. Birdies the first two days, then two eagles.

The 15-foot putt there took him five clear and allowed him an easy ride over the closing stretch.

Webster, four times a runner-up on tour, suffered the most dramatic crash in front of his home fans.

After bogeying the long seventh he four-putted the eighth for a double bogey, dropped another shot on the ninth and then ran up a triple bogey eight at the 12th, twice going into the lake in front of the green.

He threw a third ball into the water after finally holing out, while coming off the eighth he hurled his putter back to his bag. Tournament director Miguel Vidaor was studying a video of that and could well decide it was worthy of a fine for the Midlander.

Sandy Lyle, Justin Rose and Sam Torrance both entertained hopes of victory with a round to go, but they were never able to get close.

Former Open and Masters champion Lyle, 10 years on from his last win, had a 71 for joint sixth place - his best finish since he lost a play-off to Ian Woosnam in South Korea in 1997.

Rose, still only 21, missed out on a second successive win and fifth of the year with a 73. He was alongside Lyle as a result. Ryder Cup captain Torrance, whose Saturday 65 had him thinking of becoming the oldest winner in tour history two months away from his 49th birthday, scored 73 and had to settle for a share of 10th spot with Webster.

Torrance's consolation was the form of Clarke and Price with the match against the Americans now only three months away.

Clarke has been one of Europe's leading lights since he was eighth on the Order of Merit in 1993.

But this was only the 11th win of his career and at the US Open he has never finished higher than 10th.

Narrow fairways and dense rough are not the conditions he would expect for his first major win. But he will be trying.

Collated final totals in the Compass Group English Open at the Forest of Arden, Warwickshire, Sunday (Gbr and Irl unless stated, par 72):

271 Darren Clarke 65 70 68 68 (£133,330)

274 Soren Hansen (Den) 72 68 64 70 (£88,880)

276 Phillip Price 68 68 70 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 68 65 73 (£45,040 each)

277 Yeh Wei-tze (Tai) 68 72 69 68 (£33,920)

278 Sandy Lyle 71 70 66 71, Justin Rose 68 69 68 73, Sam Walker 68 71 66 73

279 Bradley Dredge 69 72 69 69

280 Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 69 70 70, David Drysdale 68 67 73 72, Mark Roe 67 70 70 73, Dennis Edlund (Swe) 68 70 69 73, Sam Torrance 70 72 65 73, Steve Webster 72 67 65 76

281 Nick Dougherty 70 73 68 70, Didier de Vooght (Bel) 67 71 72 71, Carl Suneson (Spa) 69 72 69 71, Ian Poulter 68 72 69 72, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 73 65 74

282 Christophe Pottier (Fra) 75 66 73 68, Chris Gane 73 69 70 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 72 68 72, Simon Dyson 69 74 67 72, Jamie Donaldson 68 71 70 73, Barry Lane 71 70 67 74

283 Brian Davis 72 71 73 67, Alberto Binaghi (Ita) 67 74 73 69, Graeme Storm 67 73 72 71, Shaun Webster 69 74 69 71, Grant Hamerton 67 72 71 73, Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 70 70 73, Paul Casey 69 71 70 73, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 73 68 68 74

284 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 71 71 72 70, Gordon Brand Jnr 74 68 72 70, David Gilford 71 71 72 70, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 65 73 74 72

285 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 70 73 71 71, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 74 68 70 73, Marten Olander (Swe) 70 73 69 73, Adam Mednick (Swe) 71 72 69 73, Peter Fowler (Aus) 68 74 68 75, Johan Skold (Swe) 71 68 70 76

286 Roger Wessels (Rsa) 70 72 73 71, Russell Claydon 70 71 72 73, David Howell 69 73 71 73, Gary Evans 71 68 73 74, Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 72 70 74, Ian Garbutt 71 71 70 74, Benn Barham 72 68 71 75, Paul Broadhurst 71 71 69 75, Robert Coles 71 69 70 76, David Carter 71 70 69 76, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 71 69 77

287 Michael Archer 70 73 74 70, Marc Pendaries (Fra) 72 68 72 75, David J Russell 70 71 71 75, Stephen Dodd 71 70 68 78, Wayne Riley (Aus) 71 70 67 79

288 Peter Baker 69 72 75 72, Jeremy Robinson 71 72 73 72, Philip Walton 71 72 72 73, Gary Orr 67 73 73 75

289 Lucas Parsons (Aus) 74 68 74 73, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 69 72 74 74, Paul McGinley 72 71 72 74, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 71 70 77

290 Hennie Walters (Rsa) 69 73 73 75, Malcolm Mackenzie 72 69 73 76

291 David Lynn 72 71 75 73, Mark Pilkington 68 75 74 74, Andrew Oldcorn 72 70 74 75, Andrew Marshall 72 71 72 76

292 Simon Khan 71 72 77 72, Greg Owen 70 71 71 80, Roger Chapman 69 71 72 80

293 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 71 71 76 75, Eamonn Darcy 74 68 73 78

297 Van Phillips 70 71 72 84