Fuente: © Southern Africa Tour
http://www.sunshinetour.com/

SOUTHERN AFRICA TOUR: Clark runner-up at the Masters

/noticias.info/ To the delight of all South Africans Tim Clark braved some of the toughest golf competitors in the world to capture a sole second place finish, two strokes behind Phil Mickelson, at the Masters.

Clark went into the final round tied for fourth position at three-under par and kept himself in contention throughout the tournament.

While players like Fred Couples, Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh stumbled along with three-putts a steady handed Clark seized the opportunity in the final round. He closed the door on Retief Goosen, Jose Maria Olazabal, Tiger Woods, Chad Campbell and Fred Couples all posting four-under for the tournament to capture a sole second position.

The turning point for Clark came on the 18th green where he holed a 25 foot bunker shot from across the green for birdie that left him alone in second with at 69.

“When I got into the shot, it was a fairly easy bunker shot and I pretty much could see the line clearly and had seen a lot of putts go in, similar to one that Mark O'Meara holed. I thought if I could at least get it running down there, at least have a chance, you don't make those kind of shots all the time. I knew I had to have a go at it to post 5-under,” said Clark.

Clark showed nerves of steel as he played with world number one, Woods, out shooting him by 40 yards while aiming to capture Jack Nicklaus' record 18 victories in Grand Slam events.

“You know, at the start of the day, I tried not to really watch him hitting it. He hits it so hard, it's hard enough to get up there on the tee after him and hit one hard. I can hit one hard and I'm still going to be 50 yards behind him,” said the Durbanite.

”But obviously, Tiger's game is extremely impressive. On the back nine when he needed to turn it on, he hit some unbelievable shots that you sort of sit there and look at and realize, there's no way I'm ever going to be able to hit that shot as long as I live. He's still the world's No. 1 player. I just happened to have a great day today.

Clark shot his best round of the tournament recording three birdies on the front nine turning at 34 then securing another two on the 14th and 18th to finish the day at five-under 283. However two bogeys on the second and 12th made a possible victory slip through his fingers as Mickelson played a near flawless round of golf.

“I've had a few good major championships and really do feel like I play my best golf in the majors. I pride myself on being up there on the leader board with those guys, and when I'm there, I'm going to try my best to beat them,” said Clark.

“I'll look back and say, gee, I finished second there. Coming out here today, I really felt I had a great chance to win and obviously there will always be a little bit of disappointment not winning and hopefully I get another shot at it around here.”

Mickelson finished at 7-under 281 and earned $1.26 million, putting him atop the PGA Tour money list. The victory also moved him up to No. 2 in the world ranking behind Woods.

Final Scores at the Master 281 Phil Mickelson (USA) 70-72-70-69
283 Tim Clark 70-72-72-69
284 Retief Goosen 70-73-72-69
292 Ernie Els 71-71-74-76
294 Rory Sabbatini 76-70-74-74
missed cut
149 Trevor Immelman 75-76
160 Gary Player79-81 notas_de_prensa_archivo