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Clarke finished second behind runaway winner and defending Open champion Ernie Els as the sun finally broke through on the bonny banks of Loch Lomond.
The Barclays Scottish Open provided Clarke, who shot rounds of 69-70-64-69, with the evidence that his game is ready to peak at exactly the right time as he heads for Royal St.Georges and golfs greatest championship.
A lot of things worked out quite well for me in Scotland and it has lifted my confidence ahead of The Open, said Clarke, who led a posse of ISM players into the top 25.
A last round 66 lifted Paul Casey into the top 10 while South African Charl Schwartzel outlined his enormous potential with a brace of 67s over the weekend to share 10th and just about seal his playing privileges for next season despite still being a teenager.
Lee Westwoods recovery ticked away nicely as he shot seven under par over the weekend to share 14th place alongside David Howell while Ryder Cup heroPaul McGinley, who looked like missing the cut at one stage on Friday battled hard to claim a highly respectable 20th. South African Martin Maritz made it seven ISM connections in the top 25.
A lot of our players have got their games together at exactly the right time and we should be in for a good week at The Open, said ISM chief ChubbyChandler. Its going to be tough in Sandwich, but it wont intimidate our boys and its not beyond one of them to be drinking out of a silver claret jug next Sunday.
by Martin Hardy on behalf of ISM
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