An unenviable record

Tim Clark has done a thoroughly good job of staying under the radar but his latest near miss on the Tigerless US PGA Tour has given the writers a subject to gnaw at.

Clark’s tied second place at the Bob Hope Classic means he has now gone 197 tournaments without a win on the PGA Tour and has been installed as unquestionably the most prolific money earner without ever stepping up to receive the trophy.

Clark has three European Tour titles to his name, he has won the Australian Open and he was won in America, twice on the Nationwide Tour, a team title with Nick Price, the prestige Public Links championship as an amateur and beat Tiger Woods in the Accenture match play, but he has never won on the PGA Tour.

That he shares this unenviable record with Colin Montgomerie won’t make the cross any easier to bear and every time his name appears on the leader board the writers and TV pundits will reach for their record books.

He has been second eight times now, once at the Masters plus having a second place for the last six years in succession, and pushed his US Tour earnings to an impressive $14 282 263 to stand at 59th on the list.

The diminutive golfer from Umkomaas near Durban was not blessed with the physical attributes of some of his South African compatriots but he has milked everything out of the package he was given and I feel his day will come – if only because he is a thoroughly nice guy who deserves it.

He once donated all his winnings from the Gary Player charity event to pay for an ear implant for a deaf girl and, in this increasingly callous world we live in, the endearing story is told of how he never fails to pop into the 19th at Umkomaas to buy the pub a round.

He was unlucky at the Hope that the last hole happened to be one which demanded a long carry of water, playing into the hands of the longer hitters, but here’s hoping that the man Greg Norman described as “my little pit bull terrier” during the Presidents Cup will find himself on a course with a nice tight finish and the dice will roll his way.