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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2006

Tim Clark

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

BILLY MORRIS: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We're delighted to have Tim Clark with us. Tim had a very fine 69 today, finished 5 under par and is runner up in this year's Masters tournament. Tim, I know there are going to be a lot of questions, so would you like to make a statement to start with or go to questions?

TIM CLARK: Let's go to questions.

BILLY MORRIS: At some point, they may want you to run over your card since you are the runner up.

Q. Talk about the chip on 18, what was going through your head when it was rolling toward the hole?

TIM CLARK: When I got into the shot, it was a fairly easy bunker shot, if there is one, on the 18th, and 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.

Q. You were out there playing with a guy who was out hitting you 30 or 40 yards every time, how does that change your strategy of approaching the match?

TIM CLARK: You know, at the start of the day, I tried pretty much 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. I had to really play my own game and it's discouraging when you see him 50 yards ahead of you 6 iron to a par 3 and I'm trying to lace up a 3 wood just to get it home.

I played the course that way the whole week, so I just knew I had to keep playing the way I had been and, you know, try not to make too many mistakes.

Q. Can you talk about 12 today? It seemed a lot of guys struggled with that hole, particularly the pin placement. I know you had a good bunker shot out of there and had a chance.

TIM CLARK: Well, I think it doesn't really matter where that flag is. You're still trying to take it over the front bunker. I felt I had extra club there, so when I hit it, I thought if anything, it was going to pitch towards the back of the green and pretty surprised to see it catch the bunker. It was probably a foot over, it hit right in the lip. So I hit a pretty good shot there and obviously gave myself a good chance for par. That is a really tough hole come Sunday, the adrenaline is going and you're never quite sure what club to hit and how hard to hit it.

Q. I suppose you realize you beat the world's No. 1 today, hole by hole. He shot a 70 and you shot a 69.

TIM CLARK: You know, it's one day out there. 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. It's always just great to play with Tiger.

Q. Obviously great day for your career, but one last thing about Tiger, did you notice his putting? He said he wanted to snap it into eight pieces. Did you notice the steam coming out of his ears?

TIM CLARK: He had some great shots, like the two eagle putts which we normally see Tiger make. You know, I can't speak for him, but, you know, they just didn't go in today I guess and didn't look like he hit terrible putts. But the greens really did get a lot quicker this afternoon than what they had been all week.

Q. Did you feel that you were putting pressure on Mickelson at any time or that you needed to do something else to put pressure?

TIM CLARK: I'm sure I'm last guy he was worrying about out there. (Laughter).

Q. Not only playing with Tiger but you were on the leaderboard with some of the biggest and best names in the game. Seeing those names up there, does that do anything to you to push you to a different level?

TIM CLARK: I think so. I think it makes me a little bit more determined to play well. Obviously people see my name up there and they either think I'm Darren Clarke, or, you know, wonder what I'm doing there.

I've had a few good major championships and really do feel like I play my best golf in the majors. I don't know what it is. I guess I get a little bit more geared up for them or what have you. I pride myself on being up there on the leaderboard with those guys, and when I'm there, I'm going to try my best to beat them.

Q. When it got wet and cold this morning, did the golf course at all start seeming like a little too much in terms of length for you?

TIM CLARK: It did, it did. My first hole obviously was a five foot birdie putt, but then I had to play 7, which I hit driver, 5 iron and came up short. Then that plugged in the bunker, and 9 was a driver, 5 iron and came up short. It was really tough. I really did well to kind of hold on on a few of those holes. Just the finish was bad, to go double bogey, bogey finish, no excuses there. If I had hit the fairways on those holes, I would have been able to at least knock it on the green and make par.

Q. Did you feel like the changes that were made were good throughout the field at all lengths of hitter as long as it's hard and fast?

TIM CLARK: If it's hard and fast, I think the changes are great. I noticed today Tiger hitting a lot of 3 woods. So they have taken driver out of his hand here and there. If it is firm and fast, it's fair for all. If it's wet, then it's going to be tough.

Q. Until 18, there was Phil went through without a bogey in last round. Are you surprised at all of the obstacles; are surprised that he could go through a run like that in the final round and not find any big mistakes?

TIM CLARK: Well, a little surprising by the course, but he did shoot 28 under par last week. He's obviously playing extremely well, driving the ball good, and, you know, his confidence must be there and obviously he's put together another great week.

Q. Did playing in the morning at all affect you guys later in round four?

TIM CLARK: No. The adrenaline is going so much, you really don't feel tired. Obviously you'll feel tired later on tonight, but during the round, no, not at all.

Q. Runner up in the Masters, this is a great moment. Assess where this is in your career, highlights wise?

TIM CLARK: Yeah, this is obviously one of the highlights. I'll look back and say, gee, I finished second there. Obviously it would have been great to win. I felt the way I finished up last night, getting a putt to go to 6 under and the way I was playing at that stage, I thought I've got a great chance to win this tournament. Unfortunately this morning, just didn't go the way I wanted to. But 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.

Q. How far was the bunker shot on 18?

TIM CLARK: 25 feet. No clue, really.

Q. And finishing up this morning's round, what was the key problem on those last two holes?

TIM CLARK: Well, I just hit some bad tee shots. Once a shorter hitter does that out here, I had no chance to get to the 18th green. I even hit a 3 iron lay up, believe it or not. Still had 60 yards left. So could not get to that green, and I caught the tree on the left of 17, and that left me 3 wood in. In the end, I hit it the way I wanted to, up in that left bunker and just got on the green and 3 putted. That's just kind of a lapse of concentration.

It definitely was tough finishing, seeing that I had the lead there. Certainly it wakes you up and I guess I started to play a little bit too conservatively, in the morning of the third round, or start of the third round which was yesterday afternoon. I came out aggressive and made four birdies really quickly.

Q. In the actual last round, you talked about how you felt confident going into today, but going into the last round at any point with the way Phil was playing, did you feel like you could still win this thing?

TIM CLARK: Sure, you know, through nine holes, what was I? I was 4 under through nine, and you know, he was 6. Anything can happen on that back nine. I just wish I had capitalized on those par 5s. That's what I had to do. If I'm going to lose any strokes, it's probably going to be the par 5s, with the difference in length. And I had good chances. I got it over the back of the green on 13 and wasn't able to get it up and down and I was just front right of the green on 15 and didn't get it up and down. I certainly had my chances and you know I get those up and down and I'm 7 under.

Q. On the 15th, you putted?

TIM CLARK: Well, I was a bit worried, that ball was sitting I couldn't ground my club there. I was worried it was going to roll back. It was looking a bit suspect there.

Unfortunately I just wasn't able to get comfortable over it in my mind. There was a chance that the ball could have rolled back.

Q. A couple of guys named Ernie and Retief Goosen have finished second here in the last four years, now you join those guys, fellow countrymen; does that really mean a lot to you as being from South Africa?

TIM CLARK: Well, sure, but I think if you ask those guys, they are going to say, you know, winning is what counts. They certainly don't want to remember those second places. Hopefully my game gets to the level where I'll look back and don't want to remember the second places either. I want to think about winning.

Q. This was supposed to be the week where long hitters were supposed to dominate or at least score very well. What was sharp and crisp for you this week that allowed you to shoot a hole in that theory?

TIM CLARK: I'd have to say I hit a lot of great iron shots. My iron game was there, and for most of the tournament I drove the ball well. I put it in the fairway and that gave me a chance to get on the greens. I really only got into trouble when I missed fairways and that's kind of what happened this morning.

My tee to green, I was very good. I think I only had I probably only had three or four 3 putts, which for me is pretty good around here. That was another factor.

Q. The conditions changed since yesterday, with the rain and all that, did you find it much different?

TIM CLARK: Well, no. They got the course to dry out really well this afternoon, so really this morning was the only time it played a little bit longer. But I think it was more to do with the cold than the wet. They did a great job getting the course to dry out.

BILLY MORRIS: Tim, thank you very much, and good luck to you next year.

End of FastScripts.

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