Golf: Clark storms home to win Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH - South Africa's Tim Clark finished off a record 36-hole comeback at the TPC Sawgrass with a 5-under 67 today to win The Players Championship by one stroke over Robert Allenby.

Clark played the final 26 holes without a bogey, surging into the lead with four straight birdies around the turn for his first US PGA Tour title after starting the weekend seven shots behind.

"I did all I could there," said the 34-year-old Clark, who finished at 16-under 272 and collected US$1.71 million. "That's as good as I could have played."

Australia's Allenby watched in frustration as an 18-foot eagle putt on the 16th and 12-foot birdie putt on the 17th stopped just short of going in. He shot a 70 to finish one shot behind.

Clark became only the second player to make The Players Championship his first PGA Tour victory. He had gone more than eight years and 204 tournaments with nothing more to show than eight runner-up finishes.

Tiger Woods managed to create a buzz without even being there most of the day. He withdrew on the seventh hole because of a neck injury that he fears might be from a bulging disk. Woods said his neck has been bothering him since before the Masters.

"I've been playing through it," Woods said. "I can't play through it anymore."

Phil Mickelson could have moved to No 1 in the world with a victory, but the Masters champion never gave himself a good chance. He made bogey on three of his opening six holes, closed with a 74 and finished in a share of 17th.

Clark won for the fourth time worldwide, yet this was his finest performance. The Players Championship not only is the richest tournament in golf with a US$9.5 million purse, it features a strong and deep field.

Clark won with a 66-67 weekend in which he made only one bogey - the 10th hole on Sunday (NZT). The 36-hole comeback topped the record of six that Woods set when he won in 2001.

Allenby, winless on the PGA Tour since 2001, closed with a 70. He needed a birdie on the final hole to force a playoff, but missed the green to the right and his 50-foot birdie attempt never had a chance to go in. He earned US$1,026,000 as a consolation prize for his second runner-up finish this year.

US Open champion Lucas Glover shot 31 on the back, including a 50-foot birdie on the 17th, and wound up third at 14-under 274.

Lee Westwood of England had the 54-hole lead, just as he did at the Masters last month, and couldn't hold on. He made one clutch par after another, including a 50-footer on the 15th hole to stay in the game, but his hopes ended with a tee shot into the water on the 17th to make double bogey.

"I just didn't play well enough today," Westwood said.

Westwood shot 39 on the back and fell into a tie for fourth with Davis Love III, whose 68 was one of only two rounds in the 60s.

- AP