Anchored-putting ban looms for Tim Clark

Tim Clark knows he must stop jamming his long putter into his sternum by next January, but he’ll concentrate on lifting his third PGA Tour trophy this year before the rules force him to quit anchoring.

“I’ve got to focus on what I can do right now,” Clark told reporters on Wednesday, ahead of Friday’s start of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, “and when the time comes, change.”

Clark has swept a broomstick blade across the greens of PGA Tour venues since before he joined the Tour in 2001 and vigorously opposed the USGA/R&A’s mandate to ban the anchored putting stroke. Despite considering legal action, his quixotic quest was for naught and now Clark and his anchoring brethren -- most notably, Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley, and Ernie Els, each of whom won a major with an anchored club -- must keep one eye on the ball and the other on the clock as time ticks down to Jan. 1, 2016.

Bradley has already started his transition to a conventional putting stance, which he displayed during last month’s Hero World Challenge.

“It’s always in the back of your mind that this is coming,” Bradley said during Tiger Woods’ tourney. “Just kind of want to get ahead of it as much as I can.”

Els said he was settling into using a standard putter he has put into play at this week’s South African Open.

“The putter’s nice. I’m getting more comfortable with it,” Els said after firing an opening-round 5-under 67 to sit in a tie for third, one back of the leaders at Glendower Golf Club in Johannesburg. “It’s feeling good, the rhythm feels good.”

Scott, who, like Clark, employs a chest-length stick, is in league with the 39-year-old South African and is taking his time with the switch.

Unlike the other guys, Clark labors under a unique situation in that he is unable to supinate his forearms, which makes shorter, untethered putters difficult to maneuver. But the deadline looms, so he will try out some alternatives to the way he’s been putting for some 17 years.

“At some point, I’m going to have to think about the change next year,” he said, noting that he planned to visit Scotty Cameron’s studio in San Diego after next month’s Farmers Insurance Open to demo potential putter replacements.

Clark won’t discuss exactly what he’ll be tinkering with, “just in case they try to ban those,” he quipped.

In the meantime, Clark, who earned his way to the winner’s-only, 34-player field at Kapalua by capturing the Canadian Open title in July, contended he was actually not so anxious about making the shift as he used to be.

“I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on it. I’m not as concerned as I was maybe the start of last year, because you know, I think I’ve figured something out now and I’ll be fine. But I’m not going to spend my time practicing it now while I’m trying to play tournaments this year with what I’ve used,” Clark said. “Once they tell me it’s done, then it’s done, then it will be a lot easier to change.”

Which is not to say that the pending rules change, announced in May 2013, will be a gimme for Clark, who has used the same Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball Long model for 11 years. Indeed, he conceded the recognition that he had to alter his putting approach got into his head at first.

“Eventually, I realized you’ve got to stop worrying about it and just go out and play golf,” he told the Associated Press. “And I did that, and that’s probably why I was able to win in Canada. I didn’t have that worry in there. Like I say, my thought is to come out and be a better putter. Stop worrying about what’s happened and what’s going to happen and come out and be a better putter.”

His attitude adjustment led to his first tour win in four years as well as a playoff loss to Bubba Watson at the HSBC Champions.

For sure, more important to Clark’s success is the space between his ears than the one he’ll have to put between his body and the putter he ends up deploying.

“Whatever you end up doing,” Clark said, “it still comes down to confidence and mindset.”