Too Close For Comfort
Tim Clark's close call at Colonial leaves him at the top of a list of quality players still waiting on their first win
Tim Clark has proven himself as a world-class talent, but the ability to close out tournaments still eludes him.
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The pain shown by Tim Clark trying to finish, and the tears coming from Steve Stricker after he finished, are the most recent illustrations of how hard it is to win a golf tournament.
As Stricker pointed out after winning another battle of shaky nerves, Tiger Woods makes it look relatively easy. Even with his B or C game, he's got enough fight to outplay the demons that crept into Clark's mind and Stricker's heart in the closing holes at Colonial. Even when Woods swings left-handed, as he did in his last appearance at the Players, there is never the slightest trace of fear.
Clark has now gone 0-for-184 without a victory. He is the 27th-best player in the world, moving up six spots with his seventh career runner-up finish. With a chance to get the monkey off his back, he missed a six-footer for the win and the 18th fairway by 50 yards trying to protect a one-stroke lead on the 72nd hole. "I have a lot of work to do when it comes to closing out golf tournaments," said the dejected South African, leaving Fort Worth.
Stricker, considered one of the game's elite players, now has five victories in 349 events. He went from 2001 to 2007 without a win, then another 37 events from that tearful celebration in the FedEx Cup Barclays event at Westchester to the playoff for the Crowne Plaza Colonial. Most recently, he has blown a lead with a final-round 77 at the Bob Hope, and bogeyed the 72nd hole at Riviera to finish one back of Phil Mickelson.
"It's always tense coming down to the stretch, the final few holes of a tournament when you are in contention," Stricker said in the pressroom. "That's what makes winning difficult and hard to do. Sometimes we take for granted what Tiger has done, or what Phil has done. You know they make it look fairly simple at times, and for the average player out here, it's a very difficult thing to do. You know, I can remember trying to win my first event, and I could relate to what Tim was trying to do today. You know, it's just a hard thing to do."
With Woods back in action this week at the Memorial, there are eight players in the field who could vie for the title, Best Player Without a Victory. Two of them were on the board at Colonial, along with Clark, who is taking the week off.
Steve Marino, 81 starts: Sitting in the Dallas airport on Monday, eating a plate of nachos, Marino admitted to having mixed bag of emotions as he headed to Ohio. On one hand, he looked the coolest of the playoff competitors. On the other, he never hit it close enough down the stretch, and instead of making putts, he was just off at the hole. "I felt comfortable," Marino said. "I wasn't scared." This was his second runner-up finish, coming 14 months after shooting 64-66 on the weekend at Mayakoba in a two-stroke loss to Brian Gay.
Jason Day, 44 starts:The youngest player on the PGA Tour starting the year, Day is in a tough category -- 126-150 on the previous year's money list. But with a second at Puerto Rico and a fourth at Colonial, he has virtually locked up his card for 2010. There is far more in it for the 21-year-old Aussie phenom. Playing on a sponsor's exemption at his new hometown event, Day played the last 12 holes in two under at Colonial and headed to Memorial, where another invitation awaited. That's how highly he's regarded not only as a golfer, but as a young ambassador for the game. Day won a Nationwide event in Ohio and met his fiancé in the Buckeye State, and rolls into Muirfield Village disappointed that he didn't finish better in Texas, but happy with the overall experience.
Tim Clark, 184 starts: The math isn't that hard to do: per event, Clark makes over $72,000. He has lost in the past by his own doing (blowing a four-stroke lead with five holes to play at the John Deere in 2008), and has been beaten at the end by some unbelievable shot making and luck (Phil Mickelson at Colonial last year). He has taken Tiger out in match play and finished second to him at Augusta, but has also been passed on Sunday by shooting 72 at Disney. All in all, Clark is feeling the competitive pain more than any player in golf at the moment, but there's no time to feel sorry for himself, not when he heads to Memphis, where last year he lost a two-stroke lead by shooting a final-round 75.
