A fantastic finish at the Colonial this weekend. Steve Stricker outlasted both Tim Clark and Steve Marino to win a tour event for the first time in two years.
Although good golf story's almost always come from the winning participants, often I find it more fascinating to look at how another player lost it. Especially when a playoff hole or two is involved. We saw this with Kenny Perry and Chad Cambell during Angel Cabrera's triumph at Augusta in April.
To me, today's choke of the week award goes to Tim Clark. Clark holds the not-so-honorable distinction of being the richest player in tour history without a victory to his name. He's an example of a guy who can make a career out of making cuts and finishing in top 10's consistently. There's also a reason why these guys never win.
Clark's back nine and playoff at Colonial is a perfect example of this. With five holes to play, Clark had a two shot lead. He blew it...On the first playoff hole, Clark stood over an easy as pie putt that would have won the tournament. He blew it...On the second and final hole, Clark let loose a perfect approach shot...bad luck, it hit the flag stick and bounced back like a javelin jumper. What came half an inch away from a sure fire tournament winning eagle from the rough, turned into a missed 20 foot birdie putt and a win for Steve Stricker.
As for Steve Marino, he seemed too nervous to win the playoff. On the second playoff hole, Marino backed away from the tee about a thousand times because he couldn't settle down. I never got that Marino had the moxie needed to win a playoff on the PGA tour. This tournament was clearly about Stricker and Clark.
Next stop on the tour- Dublin, Ohio for the Memorial Tournament next weekend. This one is intriguing because its the "Jack Nicklaus tournament". It's played at a Jack Nicklaus course in Jack's home town. The field is pretty good too. It includes last years champ, Kenny Perry, this week's champ, Steve Stricker, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, David Duval, Rocco Mediate, and some guy named Tiger.
- Jordan Lauterbach
photo: golf.com
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