Tim Clark (golfer)

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.

Tim Clark
Clark at the 2009 U.S. Open
Personal information
Full name	Timothy Henry Clark
Nickname	Penguin[1]
Born	(1975-12-17) 17 December 1975 (age 49) Durban, South Africa
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight	165 lb (75 kg; 11.8 st)
Sporting nationality	South Africa
Residence	Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
Spouse	Candice
Children	2
Career
College	North Carolina State University
Turned professional	1998
Former tour(s)	European Tour PGA Tour Sunshine Tour
Professional wins	12
Highest ranking	14 (16 April 2006)[2]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	2
European Tour	3
Sunshine Tour	2
PGA Tour of Australasia	1
Korn Ferry Tour	2
Other	2
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	2nd: 2006
PGA Championship	3rd: 2003
U.S. Open	T3: 2005
The Open Championship	T23: 2005
Achievements and awards
Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner 2001–02

Early life and amateur career

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

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)

PGA Tour wins (2)

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	Robert Allenby
2	27 Jul 2014	RBC Canadian Open	−17 (67-67-64-65=263)	1 stroke	Jim Furyk

PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

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

European Tour wins (3)

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	Steve Webster
2	23 Jan 2005	South African Airways Open1 (2)	−15 (68-71-68-66=273)	6 strokes	Grégory Havret, Charl Schwartzel
3	10 Jul 2005	Barclays Scottish Open	−19 (67-66-65-67=265)	2 strokes	Darren Clarke, 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	Trevor Immelman	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2	2014	WGC-HSBC Champions	Bubba Watson	Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Sunshine Tour wins (2)

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	Steve Webster
2	23 Jan 2005	South African Airways Open1 (2)	−15 (68-71-68-66=273)	6 strokes	Grégory Havret, 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	Trevor Immelman	Lost to birdie on first extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

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	Mathew Goggin

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (1–0)

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

Buy.com Tour wins (2)

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	Lee Rinker
2	17 Sep 2000	Buy.com Boise Open	−15 (66-67-69-67=269)	6 strokes	Patrick Burke, Steve Haskins

Canadian Tour wins (2)

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	David McKenzie
2	23 Aug 1998	CPGA Championship	−16 (71-70-62-69=272)	Playoff	Chris Tidland

Other wins (2)

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

Other playoff record (1–0)

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

Results in major championships

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

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

Wins (1)

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

Results timeline

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

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

Amateur

• Eisenhower Trophy (representing South Africa): 1994

Professional

• World Cup (representing South Africa): 2002, 2005
• Presidents Cup (International Team): 2003 (tie), 2005, 2009

See also

• 2000 Buy.com Tour graduates