NC State Athletic Hall of Fame: Tim Clark

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RALEIGH, N.C. - Everyone saw what Tim Clark could do on the golf course. The two-time PGA Tour winner and multiple-time international champion has won nearly $24 million so far as a professional golfer.

Few people, however, know what Clark couldn't do.

Namely, a congenital condition in Clark's arms—"radial and ulnar deviation of the wrists"—prevented the diminutive South African from turning the palms of his outstretched arms toward the sky. That's why he used one of those now-banned pendulum putters throughout his career on the PGA Tour.

"Silly little things are difficult for me," Clark once explained to Sports Illustrated. "Like carrying plates. I could not be a waiter."

It's one of the reasons "The Penguin"—as the Durban, South Africa, native was known on the professional tours—hardly ever benefitted from the long drives that became common for his muscle-driven contemporaries, as the advent of hyper-equipment turned golf from a game of finesse to a game of power.

Clark, a two-time All-American and two-time NCAA East Region champion in his three seasons for head coach Richards Sykes' Wolfpack golf team, never let his supinating inabilities hinder his drive to become one of the world's best golfers.

And a newly elected member of the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame. Clark will be one of the five individuals and one team enshrined in the hall on April 13 at a gala in Reynolds Coliseum, along with basketball players Rodney Monroe and Trudi Lacey, swimmer Cullen Jones and late athletics director Willis Casey.

That Clark ever made it to NC State was practically a lark.

He had graduated high school and spent two years working in a pro shop in his hometown when a friend of his family recommended Clark to NC State head coach Richard Sykes. Tony Matkovich had enrolled NC State from South Africa in his quest to become a golf course architect. Matkovich's father was a business partner with PGA superstar Nick Price, who had seen Clark beat Tiger Woods in at the 1994 World Amateur match play in Paris.

The elder Matkovich convinced Sykes to give Clark a shot—even though the coach had never seen him play. On Christmas Day 1995, after months of trying to figure out how to pass the SAT and navigate the U.S. visa process, Clark flew to Raleigh on Sykes' promise of a one-semester scholarship.

If he did well, Sykes said, Clark could stay.

"I had no idea where it could lead to," Clark says. "It was a whole different world, one that was competitive and one where I had to succeed immediately if I wanted to keep my scholarship."

Sykes was so curious about his newest prospect—all 5-foot-6, 136 pounds of him at the time—that the coach met Clark at Raleigh-Durham International Airport the day after Christmas and, in spite of a light snowfall, took the young player straight over to Wildwood Green Country Club, about 15 minutes away.

It was the coldest Clark had ever been in his life and the first time he had ever seen the white stuff falling from the sky.

Clark, after more than 24 hours of international travel, pulled out his near-frozen clubs and began landing 5-iron shots one after the other one on top of each other.

Sykes said, "You'll do."

And did he ever. In three seasons, Clark was twice named All-American with top 10 finishes in the NCAA Championship and he twice won the NCAA East Region title. He was the 1997 ACC Player of the Year as a sophomore. He also won the 1997 U.S. Amateur Links Championships, which earned him a berth in the 1998 Masters, his first professional tournament.

Clark's game depended on steadiness, a lack of major mistakes and intelligent course management, all traits he carried with him on the various professional tours.

"I really didn't know what to expect when I got here," says Clark, who turned pro after his junior season at NC State. "The whole idea of going to college and playing golf was foreign to me. But it was something many of the best players in South Africa dreamed of.

"But I had just one semester to prove myself. I didn't know if it was possible. I didn't know what it would lead to."

Clark is obviously grateful to Sykes and NC State for the life-altering opportunity. So grateful, in fact, he and former roommate and fellow PGA Tour standout Carl Pettersson have taken every opportunity to thank and support their former coach, especially in the fundraising for the Lonnie Poole Golf Course.

Sykes has reciprocated, following Clark and the Swedish-born Pettersson at the Masters, the U.S. Opens in Pinehurst and many other tournaments when he could. He's proud of what they have accomplished.

"There were times when we would travel around with just five players on the team and no assistant coach," says Sykes, who retired after more than four decades as NC State's golf coach. "They would talk about what they wanted to do and the big dreams they had.

"Nothing was more satisfying than seeing those dreams come true for them."

Clark spent 16 years on the PGA Tour, outplaying bulkier opponents with a game that depended on accuracy in the fairways and steadiness with a long putter on the greens. Only three times in 16 years did he average more than 280 yards per drive, when he regularly faced players who could outdrive him by 40 to 50 yards.

The game, however, took its toll on his body, even after he bulked up to 5-feet, 7-inches and 180 pounds. He had multiple wrist surgeries in 2001 that shortened his rookie season. He used a major medical exemption to get back on the course. Elbow and back injuries have kept the 42-year-old from playing on the PGA Tour since 2016, though he hopes he'll be able to return at some point in the future.

"Imagine what he could have done if he had been healthy all that time," Sykes says. "He's done pretty well anyway. I don't think he's missed any house payments."

Clark posted two career PGA Tour victories, with eight career runner-up finishes. He was second in the 1995 U.S. Open in Pinehurst, second in the 2006 Masters and third at the 2003 PGA Championship. He posted three European PGA and one Australian PGA wins.

Could there have been more? Probably. But Clark is hardly unsatisfied with the entirety of his career.

"On tour, I didn't win as much as I wanted to," he says. "But no one ever does. You always think you should win more.

"But I never lost my tour card after I earned it in 2001 and I never felt like I couldn't compete. I did pretty well with what I had."

Which exceeded most of his professional peers and earned him a spot beside the most prominent athletes in NC State history.

By Tim Peeler

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