The Golf Watch

Tim Clark is victorious, sheds Golf Watch "best never to have won a Tour event" label

Tim Clark has been criticized for not being aggressive enough down the stretch on Sunday. His desire to win has been questioned.

Clark silenced all of those skeptics Sunday--firing at pins when appropriate down the stretch--to win his first PGA Tour event at the Players Championship.  

Anyone reading this blog long enough knows that we have chronicled Clark's near misses for the past three years. I wrote on May 25, 2008:

I know Justin Rose is the highest ranked player not to have won on the PGA Tour, but my vote among active players most deserving of a win has to go to Tim Clark.

With the pressure on down the stretch, Clark continued to make aggressive swings. His tee shot on the 17th was smart, his drive on 18 was a dagger down the middle and his par putt on the final hole showed how badly the South African wanted to win the trophy.

Lee Westwood has been the one fielding all of the questions of late on why he hasn't won the big one. It felt like the pressure had finally been lifted off of Clark's shoulders.  There was more pressure on Westwood to win. Still, Clark joked around with the press:

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

Now that Clark has won, who's the best player never to have won on Tour? Brett Quigley has to be near the top on my list. 

Tim Clark Players Championship Headlines

What a great way to get back into the swing of things here at The Golf Watch. The player who we labeled best player never to have won on Tour back in May of 2008 claims his first victory at The Players.

Here are some headlines from around the Web after Tim Clark's win. 

(Click to enlarge)

 

 

 

 

    

Unbelievable...Tim Clark falls short...again

Tim Clark can't catch a break, can he?  For the sixth straight year, he has had a runner-up finish on Tour, this time at the Bob Hope.  

Can the "best active player never to have won on Tour" finally break through this year?

Will this be the year that Tim Clark finally breaks through?

All of the talk leading up to the 2010 season has been about when Tiger Woods will return and how the groove changes will impact the game of golf. 

But all I can think about is how many more second-place finishes can Tim Clark muster before he breaks through to win his first PGA Tour event?

Yes, it has been well chronicled here that Clark is the best player not to have won a PGA Tour event.  But one glance at the media guide, and it seems impossible that Clark hasn't won one yet. 

He has had 7 second-place PGA Tour finishes in his career including a handful of top-10 finishes last year.

It is an absolute joy watching someone who doesn't hit the ball a mile strategically work his way around a golf course.

His time will come--and hopefully we'll see it in 2010. 

D’oh! Clark and Funk lose in devastating fashion

It is becoming clearer with each runner-up finish (seven in total) that Tim Clark just can't get the job done on Sunday.  We saw Phil Mickelson struggle for years at the majors, and it's a shame that this guy can't break through on your average Tour stop.  Clark missed a 9-footer on the last hole and a 7-footer on the first playoff hole that would have clinched the tournament.  Looks like that label of best player never to have a won a Tour event will stick with him for the time being.  Here's the full story of Steve Stricker's triumph at Colonial. 

And for those of you who didn't catch it, Fred Funk's loss to Mark McNulty in a playoff at the Principal Charity Classic might have been just as cruel of a defeat.  Funk had two lipouts during the playoff, including one that pulled one of those nasty 360's.  Curt Byrum's call of "that was downright rude" summed it up pretty well.  Here's the full story.

Can Tim Clark finally get the monkey off his back?

Tim Clark has had the third round lead in tournaments before.  On The Golf Watch, it has been said time and time again that he is the best active player never to have won a PGA Tour event.  Will today be the day that Clark finally breaks through? 

Clark: Still the best player never to have won a Tour event

Most people were probably surprised by the outcome of today's Tiger Woods-Tim Clark match up.  Not me. 

As many of you noticed when clicking on the Tim Clark category, I have been writing for the past year and a half that Clark is the best player never to have won a Tour event.

Combine consistency and patience, and that spells trouble for any golfer, even Tiger Woods. 

Interestingly, Steve Elling is the first writer I've seen making the same statement, when he wrote earlier today:

Clark, who is probably the best player on the PGA Tour never to have won an event in the States, wore him out by keeping boo-boos to a minimum.

Looks like I'm not the only one anymore.

Clark gets a good look at 59

The current best player never to have won a PGA tournament was one birdie away on his final two holes from shooting a 59.  You have to admire the effort though, as he really gave it a run on the back-9.  He said after his round:

At the start of the day I just wanted to make the cut to make sure I got into next week, to be honest.  I got off to a good start and it just snowballed from there.

But I'm certainly not disappointed. I've still got 36 more holes to play and a lot of golf left. Disappointed about the 59, but still, at the end of the day, when I was out there, it was still early in the second round of the tournament, and I need to keep going if I'm going to win this tournament because the scores I think are only going to stay low.

Can Clark finally pull through?

Tim Clark enters the final round of the St. Jude Championship with a two stroke lead.  As I wrote two weeks ago...

I know Justin Rose is the highest ranked player not to have won on the PGA Tour, but my vote among active players most deserving of a win has to go to Tim Clark.

Clark has finished in second place too many times to count, and it's his time to break through.  Five players are within two strokes, but Trevor Immelman and Alex Cejka are the only players Clark should be worried about. 

Clark still in search of first tour win

Tim Clark came up short yet again earlier today at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.  I have lost track of the number of times Clark has been in contention at a PGA tournament and hasn't won.  The guy has finished in second six times on tour, including at the Masters and Bob Hope.  Last summer was especially rough for the South African, when he had the lead going into the back-9 on Sunday for two consecutive weeks (John Deere and U.S. Bank). 

I know Justin Rose is the highest ranked player not to have won on the PGA Tour, but my vote among active players most deserving of a win has to go to Tim Clark.