By Jay Betsill
After birdieing five of the last eight holes, Tim Clark took the RBC Canadian Open title with a one shot win over Jim Furyk.
The 38-year-old Clark’s victory at Royal Montreal is his second PGA Tour win to go along with the 2010 Players Championship. Clark made his way up the leaderboard on Saturday with a 64 and followed that up with a 65 in the final round.
“It looked like Jim wasn’t going to make any mistakes,” said Clark. “He was pretty solid, so I knew I had to make birdies. At that point, there was nothing to lose.”
Furyk began Sunday with a three-stroke lead and fired a 69, but was unable to hold off Clark who one-putted eight consecutive greens on the back nine. The 2003 U.S. Open champion is now 0 for 7 with the 54-hole lead since winning the 2010 Tour Championship.
“I kind of controlled my own destiny,” Furyk said. “I’ve got to shoot 3 or 4 under and it would have been impossible to catch me, or darn near it. I left the door open with even par on the front nine and Tim took advantage and shot 30 on the back.”
Graham DeLaet was the low Canadian in the field, after firing a closing round 68 to tie for seventh at 10 under.
Notables in the field included Matt Kuchar (T4, -11), Graeme McDowell (T9, -9), Ernie Els (T12, -8), Retief Goosen (T12, -8), Kyle Stanley (T12, -8), defending champion Brandt Snedeker (T25, -6) and Charl Schwartzel (-3, T43). Several big names missed the cut including Luke Donald, Dustin Johnson, Justin Leonard, Hunter Mahan, John Daly and David Duval.
Next week features the World Golf Championships- Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club featuring the top 55 players in the world including Open champion Rory McIlroy and defending champion Tiger Woods. The Barracuda Championship at Montreux Golf & Country Club in Reno is also next week featuring major champions such as David Duval, John Daly, Lucas Glover, Rich Beem, Padraig Harrington, Lee Janzen, Todd Hamilton, Trevor Immelman, Geoff Ogilvy, David Toms, Mike Weir, Y.E. Yang, Retief Goosen and Davis Love III.
NOTES
— Bernhard Langer won the Senior British Open by a Champions Tour record 13 shots over Colin Montgomerie. It was Langer’s fourth senior major title as he shot 18-under at Royal Porthcawl. Montgomerie, the winner of the previous two senior majors including the U.S. Senior Open at Oak Tree National, finished with a 69 to shoot 5-under.
“The golf course is unbelievably tough,” Langer said. “To have this weather for four days is unreal, it’s like playing in Florida with a bit of wind. The secret was I didn’t make too many mistakes.”
Notables in the field included Tom Watson (T10, +2), Fred Couples (T13+4) and Jeff Sluman (T16, +5).
The next stop on the Champions Tour is the 3M Championship at TPC Twin Cities, Aug 1-3. The field includes Langer, Montgomerie, Kenny Perry, Corey Pavin, Steve Elkington, Hale Irwin, Tom Lehman, Mark O’Meara, Vijay Singh and defending champion Tom Pernice, Jr.
