Clark a Semi-Major Surprise at Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Good on you, Tim Clark. A final-round 5-under 67 on TPC Sawgrass to win The Players Championship is seriously strong.

Starting Sunday three shots back and in a four-way tie for sixth place, you carded the day's low round, finishing one shot better than runner-up Robert Allenby and two better than reigning U.S. Open champ Lucas Glover.

You were one of only two players (Hunter Mahan with 18 pars the other) who did not make a final-day bogey. You played the last two days 66-67 to finish 16-under. You made almost every putt you looked at all week, draining 63 of 67 attempts from inside 10 feet -- including a pressure-packed 8-footer to save par on the final hole.

"Obviously I'm over the moon," Clark said. "I knew it was going to be a tough day out there today, and I just tried to sort of channel what I did yesterday. I played a great round of golf yesterday and kind of hoped that I'd come out today and have the same sort of confidence and sort of trust in what I was doing, and I was able to do that. "

So take a bow, you earned it -- not to mention the largest payday in golf, a $1.71 million winner's check. Just don't be offended when asked to keep it brief.

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See, as you most likely already know, The Players Championship prides itself as golf's fifth major. It -- how do we say this? -- has an image to protect. And speaking for the masses, just what has Tim Clark ever done?

The answer, of course, is quite a bit. Only, until now, it did not add up to much -- other than $14.7 million in career PGA Tour dollars.

That's because in nine seasons and a previous 204 PGA Tour events, the 34-year-old South African had never won a tournament. Eight times, however, the diminutive (5-foot-7) Clark, who played college golf at North Carolina State, finished runner-up, which made him the Tour's all-time money winner without a trophy. He, however, had won internationally, the 2005 Scottish Open most recently.

"Yeah, I mean, a part of me is a bit disappointed because now no one is going to talk about me anymore," Clark said, enjoying the laugh. "At least you had something to write about before. Now I'm just another guy with a win.

"But it has been a long time. I think the only thing that kept me sane was the fact that I had won overseas. That kind of helps. I think if you don't win at all anywhere, then it could take its toll, but I had some success elsewhere. And really out on this tour, sometimes you've got to look at second-places as a success. It's tough out here."



Share Now he has major success. Or at least a significantly important title, becoming only the second player in history to make The Players a career-first title.

"I mean, it's definitely the biggest win I've had," Clark said, when asked to weigh in on the tournament's place in golf's pecking order.

"No, obviously behind the majors this is the biggest tournament and the best field out there. You're always going to look at the history of the majors and whatnot. But if there's a No. 5 (major), this is it. This is just a huge honor and everything that comes with it. Yeah, it's a very proud day."

Clark, who began the day three shots back of 54-hole leader Lee Westwood, fueled his day with five birdies, including four in a row at Nos. 9 through 12.

He was still trailing Westwood by three shots when he began the hot streak by dropping putts from 19, six, five and 18 feet.

Meanwhile, Westwood, who was the third-round co-leader at last month's Masters before finishing second to Phil Mickelson, put himself in reverse with a bogey at 14 and a double-bogey at 17, dunking his tee shot on the par-3 island green. After posting 74, Westwood finished four back and tied for fourth.

Allenby, however, applied pressure to the end of his 2-under round of 70.

Coming down the stretch needing one birdie to tie, the Australian hit a beautiful tee shot at the confounding 17th only to have his 11-foot birdie attempt hang on the lip.

"Probably one of the best shots I've ever hit," he said of the tee ball.

Only he didn't get the needed birdie.

"I thought the putt was in," Allenby said. "It was a very bumpy-looking line and track all the way to the hole, a lot of spike marks and stuff. But I really did think it was going to get to the hole.

"There was a spike mark just at the front of the hole and the hole was slightly raised up and the ball took a look and decided to come back at me. Another half a roll, it was in."

On 18, Allenby's drive split the fairway, but he was right off the green on approach and did not convert a 47-foot putt through the fringe.

Interestingly, Allenby was trying to end an increasingly anemic streak of his own. Although a four-time PGA Tour winner, his last title came nine years ago, a streak that is now 224 tournaments long.

"Yeah, good tournament to win, eh," Allenby asked. "My turn is coming, that's for sure. I've got a lot of patience. I showed a lot of patience out there today.

"And for Tim, you know, it's awesome. It was only a few weeks after Bob Hope where he had a chance to win there. He just said, 'Oh, man, when am I ever going to win? I just can't get over the line.' And I said to him, 'Mate, you've just got to be patient, you've just got to keep putting yourself in there for a chance on the last day.' Lo and behold, he beat me."

At the very least, a major accomplishment.