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Tim Clark (golfer)

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Tim Clark
Clark at the 2009 U.S. Open
Personal information
Full nameTimothy Henry Clark
NicknamePenguin[1]
Born (1975-12-17) 17 December 1975 (age 48)
Durban, South Africa
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight165 lb (75 kg; 11.8 st)
Sporting nationality South Africa
ResidenceScottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
SpouseCandice
Children2
Career
CollegeNorth Carolina State University
Turned professional1998
Former tour(s)European Tour
PGA Tour
Sunshine Tour
Professional wins12
Highest ranking14 (16 April 2006)[2]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour2
European Tour3
Sunshine Tour2
PGA Tour of Australasia1
Korn Ferry Tour2
Other2
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament2nd: 2006
PGA Championship3rd: 2003
U.S. OpenT3: 2005
The Open ChampionshipT23: 2005
Achievements and awards
Sunshine Tour
Order of Merit winner
2001–02

Timothy Henry Clark (born 17 December 1975) is a South African professional golfer who formerly played on the PGA Tour. His biggest win was The Players Championship in 2010, which was also his first PGA Tour win.

Early life and amateur career

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Clark was born in Durban, South Africa. He took up golf at the age of three and was taught to play by his father. He attended North Carolina State University in the United States, where he had a successful college golf career, winning ACC Player of the Year in 1997. During this time he won the 1997 U.S. Amateur Public Links to qualify for his first major, the 1998 Masters Tournament.[3]

Professional career

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Clark turned professional in 1998, and initially played on the second tier U.S. professional tour, which was then known as the Nike Tour, where he won two tournaments in 2000 to gain membership of the main PGA Tour for 2001. His 2001 campaign was cut short by a wrist injury after just three events. He made a comeback in 2002, and had the benefit of a major medical exemption which enabled him to enter enough events to comfortably regain full exemption for 2003. He captured his first PGA Tour victory at the 2010 Players Championship, becoming only the second golfer to make the Players his first Tour victory. He has had three European Tour victories. He finished sole second at the 2006 Masters Tournament and sole or tied third at the 2003 PGA Championship and the 2005 U.S. Open.

Clark was a member of the International Team, captained by fellow South African Gary Player in two of three appearances, in the 2003, 2005 and 2009 Presidents Cup. Player dubbed him the team's "bull dog" in reference to his dogged determination and refusal to give in or let go. In 2005 he reached the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time. He won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in the 2001/02 season. He has played Gary Player's annual charity event in South Africa to help raise funds for needy children and personally paid for a little girl's cochlear ear implant so that she could hear after winning the event in 2005. In Australia for a three-tournament swing, he won the 2008 Australian Open in a playoff with Mathew Goggin when they were both tied at 9-under-par. Neither seemed to have a chance with four holes to play when David Smail led at 12-under only to double-bogey the next two holes.[4]

In May 2009, Clark nearly had his first PGA Tour victory in hand at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, but he bogeyed the 18th hole to force a playoff. On the first hole of that playoff, he missed a 7-footer which would have given him the victory. Then, on the second playoff hole, he and Steve Marino lost to Steve Stricker. In May 2010, Clark picked up his first PGA Tour title in his 206th start, after eight runner-up finishes, at the 2010 Players Championship. Clark came from three behind with a final round 67 to win by a stroke over Robert Allenby. At the time, Clark was the highest-earning player without a win, earning $14.7 million and having eight runner-up finishes.[1]

On 11 August 2013, in the final round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club, Clark made a hole-in-one on the 220-yard, par-3 11th hole. On 27 July 2014, Clark won the RBC Canadian Open, finishing one stroke ahead of Jim Furyk. This was his second PGA Tour title and first victory in more than four years. He birdied five out of the last eight holes to come from three strokes back in the final round. The win moved Clark back inside the world's top 100.[5]

A left elbow injury hampered Clark for much of 2015 and 2016. Clark last played the 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge and has a career money list exemption available. His career earnings are over $23.9 million.

Professional wins (12)

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PGA Tour wins (2)

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Legend
Players Championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 9 May 2010 The Players Championship −16 (68-71-66-67=272) 1 stroke Australia Robert Allenby
2 27 Jul 2014 RBC Canadian Open −17 (67-67-64-65=263) 1 stroke United States Jim Furyk

PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2009 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial United States Steve Marino, United States Steve Stricker Stricker won with birdie on second extra hole
2 2014 WGC-HSBC Champions United States Bubba Watson Lost to birdie on first extra hole

European Tour wins (3)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 13 Jan 2002 Bell's South African Open1 −19 (66-70-68-65=269) 2 strokes England Steve Webster
2 23 Jan 2005 South African Airways Open1 (2) −15 (68-71-68-66=273) 6 strokes France Grégory Havret, South Africa Charl Schwartzel
3 10 Jul 2005 Barclays Scottish Open −19 (67-66-65-67=265) 2 strokes Northern Ireland Darren Clarke, Netherlands Maarten Lafeber

1Co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour

European Tour playoff record (0–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2003 South African Airways Open South Africa Trevor Immelman Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2 2014 WGC-HSBC Champions United States Bubba Watson Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Sunshine Tour wins (2)

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Legend
Flagship events (2)
Other Sunshine Tour (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 13 Jan 2002 Bell's South African Open1 −19 (66-70-68-65=269) 2 strokes England Steve Webster
2 23 Jan 2005 South African Airways Open1 (2) −15 (68-71-68-66=273) 6 strokes France Grégory Havret, South Africa Charl Schwartzel

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Sunshine Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2003 South African Airways Open South Africa Trevor Immelman Lost to birdie on first extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

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Legend
Flagship events (1)
Other PGA Tour of Australasia (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 14 Dec 2008 Australian Open −9 (70-73-69-67=279) Playoff Australia Mathew Goggin

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2008 Australian Open Australia Mathew Goggin Won with par on first extra hole

Buy.com Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 12 Aug 2000 Buy.com Fort Smith Classic −16 (67-66-65-66=264) 3 strokes United States Lee Rinker
2 17 Sep 2000 Buy.com Boise Open −15 (66-67-69-67=269) 6 strokes United States Patrick Burke, United States Steve Haskins

Canadian Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 16 Aug 1998 New Brunswick Open −27 (63-67-67-64=261) 1 stroke Australia David McKenzie
2 23 Aug 1998 CPGA Championship −16 (71-70-62-69=272) Playoff United States Chris Tidland

Other wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runners-up
1 27 Nov 2005 Nelson Mandela Invitational
(with South Africa Vincent Tshabalala)
−17 (63-64=127) 4 strokes South Africa Trevor Immelman and South Africa Gary Player
2 20 Jun 2006 CVS/pharmacy Charity Classic
(with Zimbabwe Nick Price)
−19 (61-62=123) Playoff United States Brad Faxon and Canada Mike Weir

Other playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2006 CVS/pharmacy Charity Classic
(with Zimbabwe Nick Price)
United States Brad Faxon and Canada Mike Weir Won with birdie on second extra hole

Results in major championships

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Tournament 1998 1999
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open
The Open Championship
PGA Championship
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament T13 CUT T39 2 T13 CUT T13
U.S. Open CUT T13 T3 CUT T17 T48 T40
The Open Championship CUT CUT T23 T56 CUT CUT
PGA Championship T53 3 CUT T17 T24 CUT T55 T16
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Masters Tournament CUT CUT CUT T11 CUT
U.S. Open T12 CUT CUT
The Open Championship CUT CUT T44
PGA Championship T39 T11 T68 CUT CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 1 0 1 1 5 13 6
U.S. Open 0 0 1 1 1 4 10 6
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 3
PGA Championship 0 0 1 1 1 5 13 9
Totals 0 1 2 3 3 15 45 24
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (2005 Masters – 2006 Masters)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (three times)

The Players Championship

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Wins (1)

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Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
2010 The Players Championship 3 shot deficit −16 (68-71-66-67=272) 1 stroke Australia Robert Allenby

Results timeline

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Tournament 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The Players Championship T21 CUT CUT CUT T68 CUT T9 1 WD T25 CUT CUT
  Win
  Top 10

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Match Play R64 R64 R64 R32 R64 R16 R16 R16
Championship 62 T18 T26 T63 T12 27 T22 T60
Invitational T64 T48 T51 74 T6 T20 T29 T58 T50
Champions T25 2
  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

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Amateur

Professional

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Sobel, Jason (9 May 2010). "Clark prevails for maiden victory". ESPN.
  2. ^ "Week 15 2006 Ending 16 Apr 2006" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Past Champions – 1997: Tim Clark". USGA. Archived from the original on 6 August 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Tim Clark wins Australian Open in Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 December 2008.
  5. ^ Marchesan, John (27 July 2014). "Tim Clark defeats Jim Furyk". The Globe and Mail.
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