Darren Clarke lifted the trophy which will surely bring with it an invitation from Nick Faldo to be part of his Ryder Cup team.

A week after his 40th birthday Clarke captured his second victory of the season at the KLM Open in Holland - and did it by a commanding four-stroke margin.

Paul McGinley, his cup team-mate in the last three matches, finished runner-up after a storming 64, but conceded that the day belonged to Clarke.

The Ulsterman's 66 for a 16-under-par total came too late for him to force his way into an automatic cup spot, but Faldo hands out two wild cards next Sunday and Clarke and Paul Casey are now big favourites for them.

If they are picked it would mean Colin Montgomerie missing his first match since his 1991 debut, McGinley not playing for the first time since 1999 and Open runner-up Ian Poulter possibly being on the outside too, although he still has a chance to be in the top 10 on the points table in next week's Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

Not that Clarke, who has been on each of the last five sides, is taking anything for granted yet.

After a hug and a high-five with his two sons Tyrone and Conor - it is the first time they have been present for one of his wins - he reflected on a superb week's work.

"It's nice to win knowing that I had to play well and then actually doing it," said the man who was an inspiration to the last European side by winning all his three games just six weeks after his wife Heather died of breast cancer.

"I had two weeks to try to impress Nick. The first is out of the way and I seem to have done that.

"I don't know if I have done enough, but I'm going to Gleneagles in better shape and hopefully he will take notice."

Clarke began the last day three clear, but there was a shock in store for him because after just three holes playing partner Henrik Stenson had turned that deficit into a one-stroke advantage.

He started with a hat-trick of birdies whereas Clarke went over the green on the long second and ran up a bogey six.

However, Clarke birdied three of the next four and with the Swede making a mess of the seventh and ninth - bogey and double bogey - he started the back nine four clear and for good measure birdied the next three holes.

McGinley, who resigned as an assistant to Faldo to try to play himself in, took solo second when Stenson bogeyed the last.

"It was a good effort, but all credit to Darren," McGinley commented.

"There are only two picks, so it's a tight situation, but I'm going to have to win (in Scotland) to give myself a chance.

"As everybody knows, it's about winning. I've no complaints - I've not played well enough, but there's one more event and I'll certainly be giving it 101%."

Three automatic places are still up for grabs and by finishing only 34th, eighth-placed Justin Rose resigned himself to the fact that he has not yet seen off the competition and must also head to Gleneagles rather than return to America.

Dane Soren Hansen finished joint sixth at Kennemer and moves above Oliver Wilson into ninth spot on the cup standings. They will all be trying to hold off German Martin Kaymer, Poulter, Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty in the final counting tournament.

Kaymer stays in 11th spot after finishing down in 54th place on two over and said: "It was a disappointing week; a little bit frustrating because I'm playing well actually, but can't score well at the moment.

"Obviously Gleneagles is my last chance. I've just got to play my game - I can't do anything about the other guys."

Defending Dutch Open champion Fisher had a chance to go above Poulter into 12th on the points table when he burst into a share of fifth with four to play, but two bogeys in the last three sent him sliding back to 20th alongside Wilson.

The day also saw only the third albatross of the European Tour season, Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee holing a 190-yard six-iron for a two on the long 12th.

Collated final-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 70):

264 Darren Clarke 68 64 66 66

268 Paul McGinley 69 68 67 64

269 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 65 68 68

271 Lee Slattery 70 69 67 65, Marc Warren 72 64 67 68

272 Soren Hansen (Den) 65 69 70 68, Ross McGowan 69 64 72 67

273 Anthony Wall 67 68 69 69, Gary Orr 68 67 71 67, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 68 66 69 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 67 68 69

274 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 66 67 69, Anders Hansen (Den) 69 66 70 69, Paul Waring 70 68 70 66, Peter Baker 71 67 72 64, John Bickerton 65 71 66 72, Simon Dyson 70 64 70 70, David Lynn 70 66 71 67, Alexander Noren (Swe) 66 66 72 70

275 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 67 68 69, Damien McGrane 67 69 69 70, Ross Fisher 70 70 69 66, Oliver Wilson 69 70 66 70, Jamie Donaldson 71 65 71 68, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 69 71 65

276 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 70 64 73 69, David Howell 72 67 71 66, Matthew Millar (Aus) 71 69 69 67, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 71 69 66 70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 71 67 69 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 72 73 64

277 Paul Lawrie 71 66 70 70, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 68 69 68

278 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 67 70 69 72, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 68 71 68 71, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 64 72 69 73, Justin Rose 67 69 71 71, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 69 67 73 69, Alastair Forsyth 68 71 70 69

279 Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 68 68 70 73, Sam Walker 72 67 69 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 68 74 67, Mark Foster 68 71 69 71, Simon Khan 67 70 72 70

280 Robert Rock 68 64 80 68, Peter Whiteford 72 65 74 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 74 65 70 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 72 66 71 71, Graeme Storm 71 64 73 72

281 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 71 69 73 68, Phillip Price 67 73 70 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 68 72 68 73, Santiago Luna (Spa) 69 69 72 71, David Frost (Rsa) 72 68 72 69

282 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 68 70 69 75, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 66 74 70

283 Iain Pyman 69 71 72 71

285 Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 69 70 73 73, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 69 68 76 72, Sven Struver (Ger) 71 69 72 73, Danny Willett 74 66 74 71, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 69 70 75

286 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 74 65 70 77, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 69 76 71

287 Martin Wiegele (Aut) 69 70 74 74

288 Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 70 70 76 72

289 Rafael Echenique (Arg) 67 71 75 76, Thomas Levet (Fra) 74 66 72 77