↵There were three major storylines coming out of the weekend’s Players Championship. You’ve surely heard all about Tiger Woods’ neck issue and potential bulging disc, which conspiracy theorists have already blamed on the “stiff neck” he got after running his car into a tree on Thanksgiving. Heck, maybe he’s got a crick in his neck from all the nights sleeping on the couch (rimshot)! ↵
Players Championship: Clark Gets First Win, Players Get Best of Island, Neck Gets Tiger
↵↵The pain obviously got so bad that Woods, who was not in contention on Sunday, called it quits halfway through his final round at The Players Championship.↵
↵↵⇥“I’ve been playing through it,” Woods said. “I can’t play through it anymore.”↵↵So while Tiger is, again, the big story of the weekend in golf, the really big story should be Tim Clark winning The Players. We talk so much about the best player to never win a major (more on him in a minute), but Clark is universally deemed the best player to never have won a tournament on the PGA Tour. Did I write is? Sorry, after this weekend, that should be an emphatic was.↵↵⇥“A part of me is a bit disappointed because now no one is going to talk about me anymore,” Clark said. “At least you had something to write about before. Now I’m just another guy with a win.”↵↵
↵↵The diminutive South African, who conveniently wore a white shirt on Sunday, finally got to be the bride after so many times as a bridesmaid. Clark does have five victories under his belt on other tours, but with 39 top-10 finishes and zero PGA Tour wins heading into The Players – including eight career second place finishes – it had to be nice to get his first PGA Tour victory in such an illustrious tournament.↵
↵↵Clark won with a 16-under 272 after finishing the tournament with weekend rounds of 66 and 67, carding only one bogey in the last 36 holes.↵
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↵Oh, right, I mentioned the best player to never win a major. Well, Lee Westwood was right in the thick of The Players before getting to the 17th tee box down two strokes. With Clark in the clubhouse with the lead, Westwood needed to make birdie-birdie to close out the round and force a playoff. Of course, Robert Allenby, who narrowly missed an eagle at 16, still had something to say about who won the tournament, but Westwood nonetheless stood at the 17th tee with a chance to get himself right back into the tournament.↵
↵↵He took dead aim at the flagstick, in the traditional front-right Sunday pin placement, hit the ball squarely and…kerploosh. He put his tee shot right into the drink.↵
↵↵Maybe Westwood thought the adrenaline would give him an extra club on the shot? Nevertheless, Westwood’s shot into the water on 17 cost him dearly, as he double-bogeyed his way out of contention. ↵
↵↵So, the 17th green did get someone to falter in 2010, but it sure as heck didn’t get a lot of them. We mentioned on Friday that the seven balls into the water during the first round were the fewest since 2003. Well, true to form, the 29 balls that got wet throughout the entire tournament were also tied for the fewest since they started tracking via ShotLink in 2003.↵
↵↵It’s worth mentioning that the tournament moved from March to May in 2007, and the calmer weather in May could have something to do with fewer balls getting wet. Of course, in the first season they played The Players in May – back in 2007 – we saw a record 93 balls, including 50 on the first day, land in the water, so imperfect conditions can infiltrate a golf course at any time of year in Florida.↵
↵↵While tying the 2003 record for fewest balls in the water on 17, this year’s crop of players did record the first Players Championship of the ShotLink era to not have double-digit balls land in the water in any round. That’s just no fun, is it?↵
↵↵Oh, and of course, an unruly fan was hit with a Taser on Friday. At a golf tournament? Let the “was he wearing a Phillies hat” jokes continue.↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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