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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 11, 2011

Tim Clark

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Tim Clark to the interview room here at THE PLAYERS, the defending champion. If we could just get some opening comments about your memories of playing here last year.
TIM CLARK: Yeah, obviously just great memories from last year. Last year seems to have gone really quickly, but it still seems like ages ago that I did win the tournament so very interesting. But excited to be back here. Obviously it's a special tournament, and particularly defending is obviously something I'm not really used to.
But at this point with the injuries I've had this year, I'm just really excited to be here. I feel like I'm going to be able to play, which two weeks ago I wasn't sure if that would be the case. So just really happy to be able to play.

Q. Your thoughts on having the Spanish flag out at the Circle of Champions and what that means.
TIM CLARK: I think it's really fitting to have that there. Not only on a personal level, obviously, Seve was a hero of mine growing up. And someone who I really only met one time, and in that meeting it was a very sort of special interaction for me as a young amateur at Augusta. He came up to me and asked me how my week was going, how I was feeling. So he really took time out to interact with me, and that was a very special moment.
You know, in losing Seve last week, I think the whole golfing world is saddened by that. To have his flag up here is just a small little tribute to him. Obviously he deserves a whole lot more. He did a lot for golf, particularly in that sort of -- in the '80s and when I was watching golf on TV. It obviously went beyond just Spanish golf; it was world golf. He's obviously going to be missed.

Q. Exactly how are you feeling, and how frustrating has it been to go through these injury problems?
TIM CLARK: I'm feeling a lot better. I see at least over the last few weeks, I've finally seen some improvement. For a long time it just seemed like it was never going to end. So the improvement I've felt over the last few weeks has given me some encouragement and I'm feeling a bit more upbeat about it.
I'm still probably 70, 80 percent. There's still a little bit of a niggle in the elbow. I do feel like I'm going to be able to play, though, and get through it. I played Augusta, but I was pretty sore at Augusta, and really after that I didn't touch a club again until a couple days ago. I really had to sort of take a step back, give it some rest.
But obviously in the meantime doing a lot of treatment on it and sort of soft tissue stuff, acupuncture, everything. I've really tried to get back into it.
What was the second part of it again?

Q. How frustrating?
TIM CLARK: Somewhat frustrating. You know, we had a baby five weeks ago, so I've got one silver lining there. I've been able to spend some time at home with the newborn and my wife, so that's certainly been nice. But, yeah, it's really frustrating not to be able to come out to tournaments and play.
I don't mind not practicing when I'm at home. That's quite fine. But the fact that I'm watching TV, watching guys win and play tournaments, and I know I'm just physically not able to go out there and do that.

Q. Was there any particular moment or flash point that caused it, or was this just wear and tear, the tendonitis?
TIM CLARK: It's very strange. I don't think we're ever going to pinpoint what happened. I played Hawai'i and had a good result in the tournament and flew home and went to sleep that night and was going to travel out to Palm Springs to play. And I woke up on Tuesday morning and my arm was just killing me. I thought I had slept with it off the bed or hyperextended it somehow.
Then I kind of thought, well, maybe in the airport I lifted up a bag or did something. But in hindsight looking back at the tournament at Sony, I really didn't play very well, particularly off the tee. I was hitting sort of low duck hooks off the tee, and I just couldn't figure it out. I think something was already going on, although I didn't feel the pain.
I think there was some weakness or something had already given in the arm, and I probably did it on that 36 holes while playing, and it was really a struggle to hit fairways and hit good shots off the tee. I think it might have been something that was gradual, and just after that 36 holes --

Q. So what's more of a hindrance right now, the pain in the elbow or the fact that you've got no muscle in your right arm from basically three months of not doing any exercise at all?
TIM CLARK: It's a bit of both really, and now it's a case of -- I mean, I'll go and hit a few balls, I'm even getting blisters on my fingers because I have no calluses. And other parts of the body haven't been swinging the golf club.
I've been hitting the gym on a regular basis, but it's just not the same as hitting golf balls. There's a lot more stress on the body hitting golf balls than people would think.
The strength is coming back, though, which is a good thing. It's more just a case of in the back of my mind I'm worried about just one shot setting me off again, so that's probably the biggest hurdle.

Q. A question on the mental part of being injured. Do you think athletes fear whether they're going to get back to peak performance, and where are you on that?
TIM CLARK: Absolutely. I mean, I've been injured quite a few times now, and that's always -- when you first have an injury, you wonder, well, am I ever going to get back to full strength?
In terms of my game, though, that I don't worry about. I feel like once I'm sort of healthy, the game will always come back. And even if I don't do a whole lot of practice, I feel like it's still there. Just the few balls I hit yesterday, I was hitting it really good and not concerned about the game itself. It's more really about the injury.
Sure, you have moments where you wonder if you are going to get better, but at this point I feel like I'm in the right direction now and pretty positive that within a couple months I'll be back to 100 percent.

Q. Was Saturday the first day you hit balls on the range when I saw you there at Quail?
TIM CLARK: Yes.

Q. Since the Masters?
TIM CLARK: Yes, uh-huh.

Q. Can you describe the 13th hole, the par-3, from the tee and whether it's a birdie opportunity?
TIM CLARK: It's a par opportunity if you're lucky. It's just a really intimidating hole, particularly with some of the pin placements left, and obviously that's the most severe green on the golf course. So it's a tough one to get close. You have to really hit a perfect golf shot to get it close. And then obviously if you're attacking that left flag it brings all the water into play.
I've found that one of the harder holes out here, particularly with wind direction and where it might be blowing from.
I do remember last year on Sunday I hit probably one of my best shots of the whole round was on that hole. I landed it right on the spot where I needed to get to the flag, and it still went over the back of the green. It's a tough hole.

Q. And the other hole is the par-3, 17th, with the island green. What's your strategy on that hole and how different is it under tournament conditions?
TIM CLARK: Well, strategy is to keep it dry obviously and hopefully commit to a golf club that's going to get you on the green. I've never been as nervous as I was on 17 last year on Sunday. I couldn't even describe the sort of feeling standing over the golf ball, thinking am I going to actually make contact here and get it off the tee.
Definitely different from a regular round to that Sunday in contention. It's one of those holes you have to get on there can't be any indecision.
I was lucky on Sunday last year. We got a number and it was literally a good full 9-iron for me, and that was a big help. I think guys get into trouble there when they have to hit a half shot or have to take something off a club in order to get the yardage that they need.
I was fortunate that it was a good full shot, and I could just commit to making a full turn and hitting it good.

Q. I want to circle back around to the conversation we had earlier this spring and you were talking about obviously the difference between the two Tours and the talent levels on the two Tours we've been talking about now for a year or a couple years. We don't have Lee here. We don't have Rory here. You made the analogy of how many starts you had made here and how many wins you had and how many starts you had make over there and how many wins you had. You don't have a horse in the race. You're kind of a neutral country here. If you could just sort of expand upon that.
TIM CLARK: Yeah, I mean, I don't think I'm the only one who thinks this way, but the PGA TOUR has a lot more depth. Obviously now you look at the World Rankings and it's dominated by European players and deservedly so. They've won a lot of majors and contended in a lot of majors here of late. But I just feel like the depth on the PGA TOUR is a lot bigger, and it's a lot harder to win tournaments out here.
It's no secret it took me 200-something tournaments to win my first TOUR event. And at one point at the start of my career I had played about 20 times in Europe and had won there three times. So I kind of look at that to -- maybe I would have won 50 times by now in Europe. Just kidding.
But, yeah, it's -- there's definitely still -- the PGA TOUR has the biggest depth. There's just no question about that.

Q. You've just got to beat more guys every week?
TIM CLARK: Look at your rookies that come through every year, Gary Woodland has won tournaments, Jhonattan Vegas, right off the bat, come out and win tournaments, right up there in the FedExCup. I'm not sure how much you really see that in Europe.
I think guys get out there and establish themselves, and maybe -- that's just my sort of feel.

Q. Would you agree that this course doesn't really favor one particular style of golfer? The list of winners is all over the map really.
TIM CLARK: I agree with that now. I think with the date change of the tournament -- it used to be earlier in the year, and obviously they changed the course a little bit with the surfaces. But before when the course played soft and wet, it was kind of back to a course that favored the longer player.
But over the last few years with it nice and firm, it certainly doesn't favor one style of play. I mean, last year, for me, I drove the ball great. So I was keeping it in the fairway, getting a lot of run, finding my tee shots out there with the longer players. So I was able to attack flags. So certainly I feel like this is a course that does suit every -- anyone has a chance to win, and you do see that by the list of champions.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Tim. Best of luck this week.

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