Dolch: Clark's quest for first win remains work in progress
By Craig Dolch, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
There are worse ways to be known in life.
So Tim Clark doesn't sweat it when someone points out he has the distinction of winning the most money on the PGA TOUR without a victory.
Clark's three-way, second-place finish Monday in the Bob Hope Classic nudged his career earnings to $14.28 million in 197 career starts. That equates to more than $70,000 per tournament start, which is what has happened to many players born in the Tiger Woods era.
They can make a boatload of money without catching the big fish.
But what bothered Clark the most Monday, after he missed an 8-footer on the 90th hole that would have forced a playoff with winner Bill Haas, was he's about to take over the Avis award his peers once hung on a young Payne Stewart.
Clark's runner-up finish was the eighth of his PGA TOUR career, and he's finished second in six consecutive seasons. That's a claim very few golfers can make.
That's a claim few golfers want to make, some may point out.
Yes, it's all about the "Ws," but statistics show less than 1 percent of players win on the PGA TOUR. And the more the winners win, the less for the rest.
It's not like Clark faded Monday. He birdied three of four holes to move into a tie for the lead, including a clutch birdie at the par-3 17th. Clark, a diminutive South African who went to North Carolina State, relies on his wedge play to get around a golf course. So when he faced a 231-yard, downhill-lie second shot into the par-5 18th, he chose smarts over brawn.
"If I hit my 3-wood there, it's probably going to come up short in the water," Clark said. "A great shot is probably going to either leave me a long two-putt or a chip from the back of the green, which I didn't want, either. My wedge game is my strength, so I knew laying it up, I hopefully wouldn't have more than 10 feet. And I left myself a perfect (putt), not much to it."
But when you have that many near-misses, there's going to be some putts that just miss when they have to be made. Sure enough, Clark felt like he should have been the one lifting the trophy.
"I made a bunch of birdies, (so) you would think I putted my eyeballs out, but I missed a lot of short ones," he said. "I had a four-putt on the first day, first round on a par-5 for a double. So I certainly, if I look back, I left a lot of shots out there."
Yet the statistics show Clark can putt. Fact is, he led the PGA TOUR in putting in 2007. He was 27th in 2008 and ninth last year. And he led all players at the Hope in putting with 25.8 putts per round.
It's not like Clark can't win, either. The 34-year-old won twice on the Nationwide Tour in 2000, before winning three times in the next five years on the European Tour. Clark's lone victory in the U.S. came in the unofficial 2006 CVS Charity Classic with partner Nick Price.
Clark also memorably took down Tiger Woods, 4-and-2, in the second round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship last year. Clark still hears comments from fans about that day.
But while Woods has perfected the art of winning when he gets in contention, it remains a work in process for Clark. At least on golf's biggest stage.
Clark could have ended that 0-for-PGA TOUR talk with a couple more holed putts Monday.
Then again, a lot of guys left the Hope saying that.
Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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