Tim Clark, 2010 PLAYERS Champion | Talk of the TOUR Golf Podcast

Tim Clark, winner of THE PLAYERS Championship in 2010, discusses his golf career and experiences, including his early years in South Africa, his golfing idols and his participation in the Presidents Cup. He shares his memories of winning THE PLAYERS and the pressure he felt during the final holes.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Background
00:47 Early Golfing Years
02:56 Tie at the 2003 Presidents Cup
05:33 High Caliber Golf and Injuries
07:08 THE PLAYERS Championship
07:36 Final Holes at THE PLAYERS in 2010
11:19 Golfing Personality and TPC Sawgrass Course Presentation
13:49 Injuries and Future Aspirations
15:29 Closing Remarks

PGA TOUR LIVE and GOLF Channel host John Swantek has conversations with top players and discusses trending topics with leading broadcasters and content producers in the golf world.

Check out https://www.pgatour.com for complete coverage along with all the latest news, scoring, and stats!

Follow PGA TOUR online:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/pgatour/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PGATour
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PGATOUR
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@pgatour
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/pgatour

Sign up for exclusive coverage – http://www.pgatourlive.com
PGA TOUR Superstore – http://www.pgatoursuperstore.com/

It is players championship week on the PGA tour and that’s a special week for my guest today he claimed the 2010 Players Championship one of his two wins on the tour Tim Clark was also the champion of the RBC Canadian open in 2014 and had a stellar career on the

Tour when he was healthy injuries have always been a part of the narrative for Tim Clark three times at president’s Couer and joining us kindly enough from his native land in South Africa here on Tuesday of players week as we record this Tim it’s good to see you how’s the

Week going for you back home yeah not too bad thanks it’s h been fun uh to get back home little bit hot and humid here compared to the weather in the states as it’s uh coming out of Summer here but uh it’s always kind of nice to get back and

See family and friends it was a small little town Village about 30 miles outside of Durban South Africa where you grew up I know you started the game very young your dad was the one who introduced you to the game when you were a little TI yes um obviously growing up in a

Small town where there is a golf course and we just happened to live on the golf course it made it just a natural progression for me to play golf and uh I guess from about the age of well I started playing at three years old but

From the age of six onwards I was probably on the golf course every day of my life and when you were eight as I recall I’ve heard you tell the story you made a hole in one and that’s when you were kind of hooked you got a little

Recognition and a claim and you’re thinking well this is pretty cool I like this golf thing yeah it was a crazy deal we we were playing in a little Junior tournament at my home club and uh on the ninth hole it’s probably about 130 yard

Uh par three I hit a two wood ran it up between the bunkers and into the hole and uh it was pretty special and funny enough uh my father was was in the area and he played the game for 45 years and never had one and there I was eight

Years old having a highand one who are your golfing Idol and Inspirations in South Africa Tim growing up as a kid down there well at that time obviously Gary Player was probably the biggest Sportsman in South Africa period you know having won majors and obviously that was someone I

Was following but at that age he had already sort of gotten away from the game a little bit but we still got to see him play a lot in the exhibition matches I remember watching him out in the desert play the Skins game with Jack and Tom Watson and leino or Arnold

Palmer sometimes so that was always fun but as you know we’ve always had a pretty goodt history of golfers here in South Africa so I even followed the guys that played the sunshine tour and some in Europe and I I always remember a huge hair of mine being hu byaki who came

Over and played the champions tour for many years um and I just remember watching golf with my dad and my dad said that he really liked him because of the way he carried himself and his demeanor on the golf course and uh so he was someone I really looked up to

Growing up and you would have been more of a contemporary of Ernie Elles who playing some Champions to golf these days I know you guys were president Cup teammates you were on that International Squad three times 03 was there in South Africa at Fan Court the one that ended

In its high and as I recall you and Ernie were paired together in the first round against tiger and Charles how for that match right absolutely yeah I’ll never forget that day probably behind my uh Monday practice round at Augusta as an amido that was probably the most

Nervous I’ve ever been on a t- box was the first hole of that match um but yeah getting to play with with Ernie who at the time was the biggest name in golf in South Africa against tiger there was a huge thrill I remember hitting the flag

On the first hole with my second shot so uh I got off to a good start and that kind of calmed the nerves a little bit but another good Ernie story was you know Ernie was about six years older than us than me and um I remember playing an Amad interprovincial which is

Like an interstate tournament uh over here and he was hitting golf balls on the Range there and I just never forget watching him hit balls he probably would been 19 years old at the time and we all knew who he was and uh pretty cool to

Watch watch a guy like him hit hit golf balls and you know all these players that came before me sort of inspired me and and and got me wanting to play professional golf of course Ernie and tiger Tangled in sudden death in that 03 president cup you literally ran out of

Light it was either spill over into Monday or come up with an Innovative solution so Jack Nicholas and Gary Player the respective Captain said let’s just share it in the spirit of Goodwill and competition I do you recall what that those moments were like to him and were the players involved in that

Decision at all we I could remember how involved we were but guys were all kind of in this huddle if you remember they everyone sort of came together on the green and players were shouting from both sides you know some were going to keep going

Or call it a draw but I’ll never forget the sickening feeling it was watching those two having to play that playoff because the pressure was just incredible and um again tiger hit he’s hit so many incredible pts but the put he hit in that playoff in the dark double breaker

Downhill was was one of the craziest things I’d ever seen and then to watch Ernie have to make a straight sort of seven eight footer uphill which now under the pressure is even harder you know you know never really want a dead straight PT and ported right in it it

Was pretty incredible but also extremely nerve-wracking and and none of us really felt it was fair on those two guys to be having to do that that was the first of your three President’s Cup appearances it was also around the time where you finished third at the PJ Championship

One year third at the United States open runner up at the Masters in 2006 Tim looking back during those early years on tour was that the highest caliber of golf that you played as a professional would you say yeah I was obviously playing pretty good then but felt comfortable in the

Major you know I I I felt like I had nothing to lose and and I got excited to play the majors to be quite honest but for a stretch of time that was pretty good in 06 I played some good golf because I think I won 05 06 I won the

South African open an Australian Open I think that’s when I came second at Augusta um I was playing really well but then again you know elbow injuries and that really slowed me down at times you know the the minute I thought I was getting going I’d be laid up for a few

Months with with an elbow injury and elbow surgery um but then again in 10 when I won the Players I was I was playing some great golf again did really well in the Canadian open so that that was some good golf and and again when I

Won the RBC I I’d started to play well again coming off in a surgery just maybe two years prior um and run up to bber at the world event in in China when he h out from the bunker to to get in the playoff and then I think he made a 40

Footer to beat me in the playoff but um you know that’s just the nature of the game you have ups and downs and unfortunately for me it was always an elbow surgery that seemed to slow me down as soon as I thought I got I got

Going again you know it’s a golden week for the players this week Tim celebrating 50 years you made 12 appearances there in the flagship event on the PG in your career hard to believe it’s been half a century since Jack Nicholas won the very first players back

In Atlanta in 1974 isn’t it yeah it’s incredible to think uh how how quickly the time goes it just feels like yesterday when I won that tournament but obviously a special championship and I’ll I’ll get to watch it on TV down here and uh so I look forward to that

Yeah so you shot 67 on Sunday in 2010 without a bogy by the way and um you were I think second or third to last group as I recall so you posted a number and then uh others like Robert Allenby and Lee Westwood were were trying to run

You down but toward the tail end of that final round Tim can you kind of take us through the last couple of holes and that nerve-wracking out ofbody experiences you make make your way from 16 green over to the island green at 17 yeah I mean all week I’d felt pretty

Comfortable with my game I’d felt confident I I never allowed myself to try and get you know get ahead of myself and think about winning so I was very comfortable and on 16 I actually I I had about a four five footer for birdie and

And I missed it and I didn’t hit a bad putt but I just didn’t didn’t make the P um and then like you say that walk over to 16 you you really it starts to play games with your mind and I’ve said in interviews before that that’s the worst

I’ve ever felt over a golf ball was was that hole because uh all of a sudden being calm all week just the way to the moment it suddenly hit me what that shot meant you know make a mistake there and the tournament’s over and at

The time hadn’t won on the tour yet so I remember putting the tea in the ground and thinking I might fall over in front of everybody and I just had this uh this feeling like my head weighed you know five tons was crazy but in the end I stood over the golf ball

Thinking what should I move to get the club going back and then my last thought was listen you’ve had a million n99 just go ahead and swing the golf club and don’t worry about it and and I was able to do that and hit the shot right out

The middle of the club exactly where I was aiming and that was a huge relief because going on to 18 which I would say is the toughest huh this going to be one of the toughest t- shots in golf because uh left is wet and right is a is a bogy uh

For for me so that prepared me for 18 I remember the swing on 18 17 was an outof Body Experience 18 it was like slow motion and and complete feel of where the where the club was and how my body was moving and I I hit the best T-shirt

Of my life on 18 you pumped one I mean it was more than 300 yards it was a big poke for you I remember on the way to making a clutch eight-footer to save par um but back in 17 I mean at the height of your powers when you were healthy

There were no better players on tour in my opinion with scoring clubs in in their hands and it’s a simple nineiron 10 but yet it’s not just a simple nineiron guys just get so puckered on that se it’s amazing they don’t hit shots that are far worse honestly well

I’ve said that I’ve said that too it’s amazing you don’t see r i mean you see guys go in the water but you don’t see too many awful awful shots you know and I I think as you’ve seen the mistake most guys do is is go long right the

Adrenaline kicks in and the ball just goes forever and I think that’s the hardest thing it’s not so much worrying about where you’re going to hit it it’s how far you’re going to hit it um and that was my concern I had a was a perfect yardage for a 99 but I’m

Suddenly thinking well I could all of a sudden hit this 15 yards further than I normally do which is exactly what happened on 18 with the t-shot you know so um I think that’s the biggest thing you just the uncertainty and the uncertainty of the wind because you know

You have to hit the perfect number to to have the ball finish where you wanted to so yeah it just plays games with your head uh to an extent way more than I would say number 12 adasa second man in the history of the players to make that coveted Championship his first victory

Was Tim Clark in 2010 Craig perks had done it back in 2002 you mentioned earlier Tim how you were always comfortable at major championships you look very comfortable at sass on the way to that bogey free 67 what about your golfing personality allowed you to kind of settle into the round and the

Competition under the White Hot Lights Under the pump yeah I don’t know I think I think a little bit has to do with golf courses that play a little bit tougher that week Sor grass it was later in the year it was very firm every shot had to be

Precise you literally had to manage every shot you hit from the te to the green that’s what’s so great about that Golf Course right uh there’s not one t-shot you can just stand up there and hit away you have to pick a spot you have to even hit at the right distance

So when I’m engaged like that on a golf course which typically happens in Mages I think better and I I worry less about outcomes I think I’m just I play more in the moment which is essential to play Great Golf so that’s certainly what happened that week I that’s the best

I’ve ever been for 72 Holes without getting in my own way that’s for sure I was watching some of the highlights it was contested in May as you mentioned and it was for about a dozen years boy it looked different it was all browned out fast in the month of May and we’ve

Been back to March for the last few seasons uh Tim you’ve seen the players championship and TPC Saw Grass different times of the year what’s your impression of what the best presentation of the golf course and the championship is which time of a year I think for me I

Always enjoyed the course playing playing firmer you know being being one of the shorter guys um it made you have to be more precise and on top of that then the ball would run out when I was hitting driver so I like the firm conditions but that

Week i’ I don’t know if I’ve ever played greens other than shinok one year when during the US Open where they completely lost the greens this was the firmest and driest I’d sort of ever seen them so I would comfortably say that’s the best golf I’ve ever put together um

Because you just couldn’t be off and and putting was difficult too and and it was probably some of the best putting I’d ever I’d ever experienced so again that just leans into that that the course being tough and me having to really think about every shot and be engaged um

But yeah not to blow my own horn but the scores I shot in the weekend there on that Golf Course by far the best I’ve ever I’ve ever played you could blow your own horn because that was some of the best closing 36 holes we’ve seen in Players Championship history we talked about

Your injury history um had some wrist troubles early in your career um you’ve had back troubles for several years now um you’re 48 you haven’t played professional competitive golf in a long time Tim how are you feeling and is there a hope and an aspiration that you

Can be healthy to maybe join the champions tour in a couple years yeah you know during my career I had I had two wrist surgeries and two elbow surgeries right and each time you’re out for three four months and but I was always able to come back and play

And luckily for me find my game pretty quickly it uh once I did it once it didn’t work my mind I knew listen I’m going to have elow surgery fine I’ll be back in four four months um but with the back which which happened eight years

Ago it’s just not I’ve just not been able to swing a golf club consistently um unfortunately so yeah back issues I guess are the worst and and as we’ve seen with many golfers once that goes it’s very tough to come back but I still work at it I’m

Still hopeful to come and play it on the champions tour um that’s the stubborn thing about us golfers you know we never really want to quit we want to keep going and want to keep playing and uh you see that with all the guys guys that say oh I’ll never play Champions Tour

And sure enough they’re out there grinding away and it’s such a wonderful game that you can compete so late in life so absolutely my goal would be to get healthy and try and play and and that’s kind of the job I’ve I’ve been working at it for eight years I’m not

Quite there yet unfortunately I’ve only got two left but you just never know in this game and and with your body so so that would certainly be the Hope um to do that well listen there’s a guy who wors Sunday red who’s turning 50 uh next

Year and has indicated that he wants to play out there on the champions tour so we certainly hope that we see you out there when you turn 50 in December in a couple years and we understand you might be interested in doing a little broadcasting work maybe with us on pj2

Live on ESPN plus I hope that happens as well uh and wish you all the best good health and good fortune Tim good to catch up with you this week yeah thanks for having me and and you guys have a great week too