July 27, 2014
An Interview With:
TIM CLARK
THE MODERATOR: Welcome 2014 RBC
Canadian Open champion Tim Clark to the media
center. Tim, a back-and-forth battle with Jim but
you were able to prevail with that clutch par putt on
18. Talk about the emotions once you made that
putt and clinched the victory.
TIM CLARK: Yeah, you know, standing in
that fairway I felt he might have hit it really close,
so it looked like I might have to two-putt to be in a
playoff.
There was a big swing there, and
obviously once he had missed his putt, I didn't
want to have to go into a playoff knowing that he
can take it over the water and I have to play out to
the right. I didn't really want to play 18 again in a
playoff.
It was huge for me to get it finished right
there. I just got hot with the putter on that back
nine, obviously, and to stand over that putt and still
feel confident was very nice.
THE MODERATOR:
You mentioned
earlier your first professional victory also came in
Canada, New Brunswick Open. You also won the
CPGA Championship on what's now PGA TOUR
Canada that year. If you could tell us what it
means to get a PGA TOUR victory at the Canadian
Open here to maybe bookend and get up to the
next level for your career.
TIM CLARK: Well, the irony of it, it could
be the place of my first win and my last win. That's
pretty interesting. To come back here, yeah, full
circle, that's 16 years ago when I was just cutting
my teeth as a professional golfer and was fortunate
enough to be given some starts up here, as I got
ready for Q-school and whatnot. So I have fond
memories. Like I say, my wife is Canadian and
she has a lot of family here in the Montreal area.
I've always enjoyed coming up here and playing. I
have a lot of Canadian friends.
It's a big honor.
Q. Can you speak about specifically
your back nine, which was amazing, 30?
TIM CLARK: I played great all week,
particularly yesterday was a great round of golf,
and the front nine today I was just a little out of
sorts. I didn't quite have it with my golf swing or
the putter, but making the turn I was still only three
back, so I was still in the tournament, and I knew -it looked like Jim wasn't going to make any
mistakes. He played pretty solid today, so I knew I
had to make birdies, and sometimes that can be
easier when you know you have to be aggressive.
At that point nothing to lose, and like I say, I
suddenly just got hot, and I went with it.
Q. It was good golf and a little bit of
karma do you think that propelled you to the
Canadian Open given your background here in
Canada and your wife?
TIM CLARK: Yeah, possibly, and a few
years ago I felt like I had a really good chance to
win this tournament when Carl Pettersson won. I
was obviously very pleased -- it was nice that he
was the one to win it, but I had a great chance
there to win this event, and it's certainly one I've
wanted to win for a long time. Any national open
championship to me is special, particularly to those
people for their country. I know what it means to
the Canadian players to play up here, and like I
say, it's an honor for me to be the Open champion.
Q. What was the spark and when did
you feel like it was going to be your day?
TIM CLARK: You know, it could have
even just been the up-and-down on 10 to be
honest. Making par there, I could have quite easily
made bogey and that would have put me four
back. So making that save really got me pretty
comfortable, and then on 11 I didn't have the
shortest of birdie putts but it was one where I saw
the line straight up the hill pretty much, and I knew
if I could get something going I might have a
chance, and then when that went in, I knew I was
right in it.
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Q. How did you spend the break, and
did that affect you, your momentum in any
way?
TIM CLARK: Obviously not pleased when
the siren did go because I felt like I had just hit it to
12 feet or so on 15 is it, and Jim was off the green.
But I was able to come out and make that putt. We
didn't have that long of a break. We were just in
the locker room maybe 15 minutes or so, so lucky
it was a quick turnaround and that helped.
Q. What did you do?
TIM CLARK: I just stood there and waited
for them to tell us what to do pretty much.
Q. Does it compare somehow to your
win at the TPC?
TIM CLARK: Yeah, I mean, any win is
very special, particularly since that win -- a lot has
happened. I've had a surgery since then. I've had
two kids, which is on the good side of it. My life
has changed a lot since that win. To have won
right now after the year that I've had means a lot. I
have not had the greatest of years starting from
January. I played good in the fall last year, but this
year as a calendar year has not been the best for
me. To turn it around like I have and now to get
myself into Akron next week and the PGA means a
lot.
Q. Can you just talk about your first
putt on the 18th hole and what you were trying
to do there?
TIM CLARK: Just trying to get it close.
But that was probably the longest putt I had all
day, and it's up a tier and down a tier, so very
tough to judge the speed. Yeah, I just -- I didn't hit
it hard enough. I thought it might run out a little bit
more at the end, but having said that, if I was going
to leave it anywhere, I wanted to leave it short of
the hole. I knew I was going to leave myself a
slight downhiller there, which I kind of wanted.
I obviously would have liked to have had a
tap-in, particularly with the fact that Jim could have
quite easily rolled his putt in.
Q. How did you meet your wife?
TIM CLARK: We met in Scottsdale a long
time ago, but she was already living out there.
Q. Where is she from?
TIM CLARK: She was born in Toronto, but
her dad's family is from Montreal.
Q. When you had the elbow surgery
and you sat out -- was it a full year off?
TIM CLARK: Pretty much.
Q. Was there a legitimate concern in
your mind that you wouldn't be able to return
to golf or were you pretty certain that you
could?
TIM CLARK: You know, once I had the
surgery, which unfortunately I spent four months
trying to rehab it and get it better and finally it came
down to surgery. Once I had that surgery, I felt like
I would be able to recover. But the first few
months back at tournament golf was tough. I
mean, I don't think I broke 75 for a few months.
You know, it's just -- you've got to keep
persevering. Yeah, I always felt like I'd get back.
I'd done it before my first year on TOUR, I missed
with a wrist surgery. You never give up hope, and
I'd like to say it was a lot of hard work, but I do
what I need to do. Yeah, I knew my game was
coming around a few months ago. I really started
to hit the ball nicely, I just wasn't scoring. The
John Deere was a big step for me to get myself in
the mix, and then today just a dream day.
Q. Have you given any thought to '16
and the change in the putter rule and how that
may impact you because you're pretty good
with this and you're probably one of the most
notable with it.
TIM CLARK: Yeah, I mean, if you looked
at my stats this year, I was 130 in putts coming into
these last few weeks. So it hasn't been that great.
I think that's probably been on my mind for the last
couple years, knowing that the change is coming,
and every time I'm home I'm tinkering with stuff,
seeing what I'm going to do. I think that's taken
away from my play.
The last month or so I've stopped doing
that. I've just stuck to what I'm doing and tried to
get it out of my mind, and I think, like I say, it has
been taking away from my golf a little bit. I've kind
of put it to the back now, and I'm going to just do
with what I've got now and maybe give it more
thought sometime next year.
Q. What's it like playing in the final 18
with a guy who you're neck and neck with?
Are you guys talking?
Is there a ton of
tension? What's it like?
TIM CLARK: Well, Jim is a great guy. We
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chatted quite a bit out there, and I just knew it was
going to be very tough for me to do anything
against him today. He's such a great competitor.
He's obviously had a great year, too.
You know, like I say, going into the back
nine I suddenly had nothing to lose. I didn't really
make up any ground on the front nine, and I think I
was playing a little bit too conservatively, and then
on the back, I said, I have nothing to lose here.
He's not going to make any mistakes. I'm going to
have to go make some birdies.
Towards the end there, I knew what sort of
situation I was in. There was no point in backing
off. I just got a little bit more committed and make
better swings that way.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
Q. A lot of people were thinking that
Jim Furyk would be unbeatable in this final
round because he has played so well. What
about you? Did you think you could beat him
today?
TIM CLARK: Not after my first few holes.
It was a little shaky. I didn't have a lot of
confidence there at the start. But once I got into
the round and started to hit some better shots, you
know, really all I could worry about was what I was
doing. He was still playing some solid golf. I don't
remember him missing a fairway -- too many
fairways or greens. Unfortunately for him he had a
few putts skirt the hole and lip out, and
unfortunately in this game that's what it takes. You
have to be the one that makes those putts, and
unfortunately for him it just didn't happen today.
Q. I'm just curious to know how much
confidence does this win give you, and looking
forward into the next few events, do you think
that you can keep this great play going?
TIM CLARK: Yeah, there's no reason why
not. You know, obviously it's a case now of trying
to find some rest here in the next few weeks
because it's going to be busy. I'm going to go to
Akron, and I think I got in the PGA Championship
with this win, and I was going to go to Greensboro,
too, and then the FedExCup starts. So you're
looking at nine weeks in a row. I'm not sure what
I'm going to do just yet.
You know, if I stay in this sort of frame of
mind, there's no reason why I can't keep it going.
Yeah, the next two events are big events for us,
particularly the PGA. I'd love to keep it going.
Q. You mentioned a few times both
yesterday and today finding something in your
swing. Can you talk about that?
TIM CLARK: Today it was more a case of
committing to my shot. Every time I didn't quite
make up my mind I didn't hit the best of shots.
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