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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 21, 2015

Tim Clark

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

THE MODERATOR: All right. Welcome Tim Clark to the Shaw Media Center. Tim, you haven't played Glen Abbey before, but it's always got to be a nice feeling to be the defending champion and come back and defend your title. Maybe you can start off by telling us what it's like to be the defending champion here at the RBC Canadian Open?

TIM CLARK: Yeah, obviously, I was extremely proud of my win last year. Winning in different countries means a lot to me as a player. So that is definitely special, and not often do you have the opportunity of coming back and defending any sort of title, so this will be a fun week.

Q. You mentioned winning in different countries. You started your career by winning a couple of events here in Canada, and to win there last year, what did that mean to win in Canada and what's it like to be back here with the Canadian fans and that kind of thing?
TIM CLARK: Yeah, a few years ago I guess it was St. George, as you were saying, I had a chance to win and didn't finish it off. I think that weighed on my mind for a while. So given the opportunity last year, it was certainly a tournament I wanted to win. It kind of brings me full circle. Like you say, my first two professional wins were up here on the Canadian Tour at the time. So, yeah, it's been a special place for me.

Q. Can you talk about the sort of year since then? You've had both injuries and then you had this weird visa thing at the British Open? Can you talk about what your health situation was like and perhaps explain this visa thing, because I saw some stories on it and wasn't clear to me.
TIM CLARK: Yeah, well, obviously when I won here last year I'd had surgery on my right arm in 2010 or 2011. Obviously, it appeared to everyone that I was doing great last year, but I was already starting to struggle with my left arm at this point last year. It was giving me trouble and there were tournaments I had to pull out of. But I didn't really make much of it at the time. But, unfortunately, in Hawaii, I hurt it pretty bad during the last round, and subsequently had to have surgery in February. So, yeah, this is my third tournament back. It feels pretty good. It feels better than I thought it would at this point, to be honest. My game has come back fairly quickly. John Deere I should have really made the cut the way I played, so that's just a little bit of rest, which hopefully I've sorted out now. While I haven't played much golf this year, I'm feeling pretty good about this week, to be honest.

Q. What was the problem with the arm?
TIM CLARK: Well, it's just I had a torn tendon.

Q. Just from?
TIM CLARK: Just from playing. And like I said, almost an identical injury to what I had in my right elbow in 2011. So it's tough to go through that again, because that year I missed a whole year. This time I've only missed five months, so I feel like I've been able to find my game a lot quicker. I haven't been out of the game for quite so long. Although the arm doesn't feel a hundred percent right now, I know that the right one feels great, so it's just a matter of time before it feels good.

Q. And the visa thing?
TIM CLARK: Well, essentially what happened is being South African, if I go to the U.K., I have to go and get fingerprints taken, send that off with my passport to apply for a visa, and in order to get to apply, I have to get a letter of intent, why am I going there. So normally I need the R&A to send me a letter. Which, six, seven weeks ago I requested a letter so I could get the process started, and they said they weren't allowed to send the letter until I was actually in the tournament. So I wasn't quite yet qualified, so I couldn't get the letter, couldn't apply to get my fingerprints taken. So I was in, following the Travelers, I went to the Bahamas with my family, and that's the week I get in the tournament. So --

Q. It's too late?
TIM CLARK: Well, I couldn't send my passport. I'm in another country. I'm going to need my passport to get to the John Deere. There is a consulate or place to go and get visas done in the Bahamas but it's open one day a month. I just didn't happen to be there the right week for the day that it was open. So, essentially, my hands are tied at that point. There was just no real time. I got in touch with R&A and said, listen, I'm stuck. If I do this through the right channels, which I have a lawyer do it for me every year, and it takes two to three weeks to get it done, and that's getting it done quickly. So I sent them a letter saying I'm stuck here. It's too late for me now. Without this letter, I've still got to apply, get fingerprints, and then it goes to the consulate, and then they send me my passport back with a visa. So I did hear from the R&A while I was at the John Deere, and they had gotten in contact with the consulate in New York. So my best case scenario was I could have flown into New York on Monday, done all my fingerprints, potentially gotten my visa, and probably would have gotten it on Tuesday. But that means I'm flying Tuesday night to get there Wednesday, and I just sort of packed it in at that point. Then there are people saying why didn't you have this sorted out earlier. I don't play the European Tour, so there is no point in me getting a visa at the start of the year. It's all dependent on whether I go to the British Open or not. So I know there have been articles written that he should have been prepared for this or, well, I've tried to be prepared seven weeks ago.

Q. It seems like a lot of time?
TIM CLARK: Yeah, that of would been more than enough time, but obviously I wasn't able to get the letter. Which I think now they're looking at their process, and hopefully guys that are just on the outside looking in, they're going to be able to. But, again, it's a very small percentage. It's purely because I'm from South Africa. If I was from any other country, take my passport and I go straight in. But had I qualified at the John Deere and played my way in there, I had zero chance, right?

Q. So it's kind of a loophole that somebody needs to look at and figure out how to fix.
TIM CLARK: Exactly.

Q. You said you feel good coming into this week. What do you base that on? Seeing how you haven't played very much.
TIM CLARK: Just that what I saw at the John Deere. I shot 2-under my first round. I was a couple under my second round, and I just didn't make any putts. That's really the thing that takes the longest to come back. I think when you're a little bit rusty, it's around the greens in scoring. But I hit the ball great. I've lost my -- my swing for some reason after all these injuries just always seems to come back to the way it was before. Some of the things I've been -- what I was able to work on, when you're injured and you come back, you start with wedge shots, and I've done a lot of work with that, and I feel like I've improved in certain areas of my game. Particularly, I've always been a pretty good wedge player, but I think it's getting even better. Like I say, I saw some shots at the John Deere which the distance came back. That's what I thought I'd be lacking is the distance with the irons and the driver. But Deere was my second tournament back, and I really had that distance back. So it leaves me to believe I might have a chance.

Q. Just winning last year in Montreal, you mentioned how it was special. What makes it special to you, and how does that compare to winning TPC?
TIM CLARK: Well, like I've said before, winning any national open championship, I know what it means to THE PLAYERS from their country, what it would mean to them to win it. I've won the South African Open and one of my first big events, and that meant a whole lot to me. Having a lot of Canadian fans, I know what it would mean to them to win this title. So that's not lost on me. I take pride in winning a National Championship like this. I've been fortunate to win the Australian Open and the Scottish Open, South African Open and here. So I'm just missing a couple big ones. Then, like I say, my first couple wins as a pro up here in Canada. My wife was born here in Toronto, so we had family there with us last year. So, yeah, it's just a place we enjoy coming to.

Q. Are you surprised in any way that you haven't won more than the two PGA tournaments that you've won?
TIM CLARK: Yeah, I mean, to be honest, if I look at what I've done through my career I should have no question won more. But I think we all feel that way. But I really feel that way (laughing). I think 12, I don't know how many seconds I've had, 12, 13, or whatever. And I guess I've had a second place my last 11 seasons in a row. It shows I've played consistently good golf over the last 11 seasons. But to only win twice, some of them I gave away. Some of them guys played great to beat me. I don't have too many regrets on a lot of the tournaments. There were times I felt I really played well and just got beaten and you can live with that. The only ones that sting are the ones you felt like you might have given it away. That's probably really only happened a couple of times.
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