|
 Clark knocked his clutch putt in dead center to edge Furyk in a
battle between two players who badly needed a victory to shed the
bridesmaid tag.
Clark has finished second 12 times on tour and had major elbow
surgery in 2011, so he exuded a mixture of excitement and relief as
he greeted his Canadian wife and two young children next to the 18th
green at Royal Montreal.
“Any national Open to me is special and it’s an honor for me to be
the Open champion,” Clark told reporters after storming home in 30
strokes with five back-nine birdies, one-putting eight holes in a
row on his way to a five-under-par 65.
He finished at 17-under 263, while Furyk shot a 69 for second place
on 16-under.
Furyk has won 16 times on tour but is winless in his last seven
attempts when leading (or co-leading) into the final round.
This was his sixth runner-up finish since his most recent tour
victory nearly four years ago, and the latest near-miss clearly
stung.
 He had a 15-foot birdie chance at the last to force, at the very
least, a playoff, but read too much break and missed on the high
side.
That took some pressure off Clark, whose long first putt had come up
well short, and he pounced on the opportunity.
Earlier, Clark was four strokes behind after bogeying the first hole
but the slow start perhaps eased some of the pressure.
“The front nine I was a little out of sorts but making the turn I
was only three back,” he said. “At that point there’s nothing to
lose and suddenly I got hot with the putter.
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“To stand over that (winning) putt and feel confident was very
nice.”
Clark notched four birdies in five holes from the 11th to take the
sole lead with three holes to play, and preserved his advantage when
he matched Furyk’s birdie at the par-three 17th.
Clark, 38, is the third South African to win the Canadian Open, and
he earned $1.026 million as well as a spot in the PGA Championship
in two weeks.
Meanwhile, the home drought will stretch on after Canadian Graham
DeLaet finished seven shots behind in a tie for seventh.
Pat Fletcher was the most recent Canadian winner in 1954.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Gene
Cherry)
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