Darren Clarke last night 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, winning by four strokes. Paul McGinley, his cup team-mate in the last three matches, finished runner-up after a 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 saw playing partner Henrik Stenson turn that deficit into a one-stroke advantage after just three holes. 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," said McGinley. "There are only two picks, so it's a tight situation, but I'm going to have to win at Gleneagles to give myself a chance."

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.

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.