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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2007

Tim Clark

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

RONALD TOWNSEND: Good afternoon. We welcome Tim Clark. Tim, this is his sixth Masters appearance. He had his best finish in the 2006 Masters, finishing solo second. He's made the cut in 19 of 22 events on the PGA TOUR and finished in the Top-10 four times. We invite your questions.

Q. Can you tell us about today's adventure at 18?
TIM CLARK: Yeah, you know, I was just trying to bring home the round. I thought I did pretty well to get home to 1-under and just misjudged my second a little bit and really left myself not much of an up-and-down. Again, managed to hole one from off the green.

Q. With the pace of play of a five-hour-plus round, your two playing partners struggling, as have many other golfers this week, does it make it a little more difficult for to you maintain your focus where you sometimes find your mind drifting?
TIM CLARK: You know, I think with this tournament, this is a special tournament and very different to any other. I find here, you really get into your own game and not worry what others are doing. You know, it's really demanding. You're always thinking, you're always concentrating, and I think that's what makes it so tough. Not only is it physically demanding, it's mentally demanding.
Really, it doesn't matter what the other guys are doing out there. You know the course is tough and they may be struggling, but you've got to get on with your own game and just try and play smart.

Q. You had the adventure on 15 but a totally different adventure on No. 5, double. Tell us what happened there.
TIM CLARK: 5, my really only sort of bad shot of the week. I lost a drive in the tree there and got lucky to have a shot at it to get it out into the fairway, and I did that. With my third, I knew I couldn't come up short because really short of that pin, there's no easy 2-putt, and I came up short with my third and from there it was going to be tough to make a 5.
It was one of those things, but I felt like I put it behind me pretty quickly.

Q. As well as you've played here the last two years; is there something about your game specifically that suits this course or something about your mind-set that does?
TIM CLARK: Yeah, certainly I don't feel like my game suits this course. It's probably more of a mind-set. I'm not going to let that get in the way of me playing well. I've dreamt of coming here and playing this tournament as a child and I'm here now and I'm going to make the most of it.
There's just a lot of flags out there that I can't go at. If I do, with the firmness of the greens, I'm not even going to keep it on the greens. I'm just going to try to play how I can to shoot 70, 71. For me to go any lower than that is going to be really tough.
I like the way the course is playing right now where the scores are not going really well, where it looks like 4-under, 3-under could win the tournament, and that really suits the guys that are not hitting longer.

Q. Can you walk us through your birdies today, 3, 8, 10, and 14?
TIM CLARK: Yeah, 3, I elected to hit driver there today to try to get it as far up there as I can and really only had 78 yards in, and hit to about four feet and made the putt.
8, again I had another about a 60-yard shot and hit it to about five feet and made the putt there.
10, yeah, I hit a great drive on 10. I hit an 8-iron in there, hit it to probably 12, 15 feet and I think, yeah, made the putt there. Of all of the putts I've made from on the green, that was probably the longest. I made a couple from off the green, but yeah, I made a 15-footer there.

Q. And on 14?
TIM CLARK: 14, missed the green left. Had a go at the green, which I normally don't do, but I feel like if I'm sort of within 200 yards of the front of the green, I'm going to have a go. Hit a 5-wood and hit it pin-high left of the green which is really not a spot you want to be. But all three of us missed there so I had a chance to see the other guys play a similar shot down to the hole. They hit better shots than I did actually. Mine ran past the hole onto the fringe. A foot further, it was in the water. So kind of got a little lucky there. Really still only had eight or ten feet and made the putt.

Q. You came in second last year in very different conditions; do you prefer the firm, fast running conditions of this year?
TIM CLARK: I thought last year was still pretty firm. I don't think the greens are quite as firm, but the fairways are certainly firm and that probably suited me better than it does this year. I find the greens are really firming up.
But certainly, to have the fairways firm is a plus for the shorter hitters and I certainly would not want to see it playing soft now.

Q. Just to follow up, you have not played much; that neck injury has curtailed your campaign. In a funny way has that freshness been to your advantage this week?
TIM CLARK: No, not at all. Because I tried to play the last two weeks and I was just so rusty. I shot 5-over last weekend at the tournament in Houston.
I came out on Monday and really tried to work on my swing again a little bit and tried to find it. Again, you're here at the Masters, the adrenaline is going, and for some reason my game always seems to sort of come through.

Q. Is it getting to the point now on 18 when you see the ball go in the hole that you're not surprised anymore; or are you?
TIM CLARK: No, I'm still surprised any time I see it go in.
But it's such a tough finishing hole. Again today I was just trying to play for a par, play to the middle of the green and, you know, I hit a bad shot and I was lucky enough to get away with it. Hopefully I can do something like that on Sunday to win the tournament.

Q. When did you hurt your neck and what was the nature of the injury and did you fear it would not let you play here?
TIM CLARK: Well, it's been a few months now. It wasn't a specific injury really. I think it's just through wear and tear and playing golf. You know, it had been stiff, and really the only reason I started playing a few weeks ago was so I could come here this week. Although I probably wouldn't really be playing --

Q. Were you like incapacitated or how bad was it?
TIM CLARK: Well, you know, I haven't played a lot of golf. I haven't done a lot of practice. Like I said, that showed the last few weeks.
But again, it's the Masters and I'm going to do whatever it takes to play well and, you know, if there's a little bit of pain here and there, it's not going to stop me.

Q. You're tied for the lead after two rounds and this room is about a third full; you finished solo second last year. Do you think people maybe still look at you as a dark horse and maybe are not taking you seriously? What are your thoughts?
TIM CLARK: Well, I guess no one's ever picked me to do well anywhere. I've had a third at the PGA, a third at the U.S. Open, and a second here, so my major record is pretty decent to people that haven't won a major.
I'm always a little surprised. Even after yesterday I was on the leaderboard and no one mentioned me. Everyone was looking at everyone else to do well. You know, maybe that will just give me a little more incentive to go out there and probably will take me winning a major tournament for people to sort of recognize me.

Q. You mentioned the leaderboard; what's it like to look up there and not see names like Woods and Mickelson?
TIM CLARK: Well, you know, this course is just playing so tough right now. Again, if you are just a little bit off your game, it could be anything. You know, your driving or your putting or anything, it's going to be tough to score. I don't know beyond what Tiger is on, is he 3-over? That's still very much in the tournament. That's only five back.
You don't necessarily have to be on the leaderboard after two rounds to still be in the tournament.

Q. What do you think it is that you have that people maybe underestimate? Because you've obviously performed very well in some difficult circumstances. What do you think the advantage is that you have over other players maybe?
TIM CLARK: Well, I don't know. You know, like you say, I'm not the longest hitter, I don't have the greatest short game, but I feel when it gets to the bigger tournaments, I enjoy the challenge. I love being here and I don't sort of -- the pressure doesn't really get to me at the majors. I enjoy the challenge.
Around here, my ball-striking is always pretty good. I can control my irons, I control the distances really well and where I'm going to hit them. And if you don't do that here, you're going to have a tough time.
That's why I feel that I'm suited to play major championships, because I'm going to be able to put the ball pretty much where I want it.

Q. What did you learn from your experience last year being at the top of the leaderboard for quite a bit of the weekend and finishing second, what did you learn from that?
TIM CLARK: I learned a lot I think at one stage on Sunday morning I had a three-shot lead and looked at the leaderboard and couldn't believe it, probably got ahead of myself double-bogeying 17 and bogeying 18. But then obviously playing with Tiger on Sunday, I was able to go out and shoot a 3-under par. I think I learned a lot just from him, too, watching how patient he was. He didn't get off to the greatest of starts but he all felt like he was in the tournament going into that back nine.
I think that's what you have to do. You have to no matter what happens out there, just know that you can still get yourself back into the tournament and it's never really over.

Q. As your round progressed today, did you have any sense that the galleries were starting to get big or pay more attention to you?
TIM CLARK: No. I mean, I learned that a long time ago here, too. You can't sort of look around at what's going on around you. You have to stay focused on your game and you just try to not really take note of the galleries and that.
They are always pretty big and pretty loud come the last few holes, and that's great.
RONALD TOWNSEND: Thank you very much. Thank you, Tim, and good luck this weekend.

End of FastScripts

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