16 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 5, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com native with two previous tour wins scorched the field, claiming the tournament crown by firing a course record 60, a full 12 strokes under par. Below, we recount his memorable day. HOLES 1-5 After one hole, there was nothing to foreshadow what was to come. Clark’s drive nestled in the right rough. Although he still made the green in two and had a chance at birdie, he settled for par. The first indication that fortune might be on Clark’s side came on number two. An errant approach shot smacked the edge of a bunker guarding the right. Instead of toppling into the sand, however, the ball kicked sharply to the left and bounded onto the green. He took advantage of the opportunity by sinking a 40-foot putt for an eagle— 2-under on the par 5. Yet holes three, four and five saw a return to competent but uneventful play. A gentle tap on three rolled to a stop inches short of the cup. On five he measured a long putt nicely, but missed to the right. Clark went par, birdie, par. “Pebble is tough on putting,” he explains, citing the time of year—rain slows the greens and exaggerates the bumps of poa annua, the type of grass. While the grass is not exclusive to Pebble Beach, players do not get much experience on such surfaces. And poa tends to throw otherwise easy taps off kilter. “But I had a good look at birdie on one and made a 40-footer.” HOLES 6-9 The sixth hole is where the iconic course begins to show its callous beauty. The fairway is guarded by a series of bunkers on the left and a cliff and ocean on the right—all leading to a daunting climb that obscures the flag. For Clark, it also promised little—at first. His drive hugged the left fairway, but his approach shot from 196 yards out fell more than 40 feet from the flag. Now, however, the hours spent on putting technique earlier in the week began to tell. Under Kanski’s tutelage, Clark switched to a cross-handed grip—a significant change just days before a signature tournament. A confident pendulum stroke sent the ball on a line to the center of the cup—Clark’s second eagle on the front nine. “The eagle putt on 6—I thought ‘hey, that’s nice,’” he recalls. Suddenly at 5-under after just six holes, Clark was beginning to realize that he was now in contention for the win. The thought of a record round had not yet entered his plans. Following a birdie on the postage stamp par 3 seventh, the group—Clark played that day with Matt Kuchar and Nicolai Højgaard—headed to the trio of menacing par-4s, known colloquially as the “Cliffs of Doom.” The fairway on number eight is split by the first ominous chasm. Hitting too long off the tee puts a golfer in difficulty. Two years earlier, Jordan Spieth had risked death, dangling over a 70-foot precipice rather than trade a penalty stroke for a safe lie. Clark parked his drive without such drama and landed his second shot in the front third of the green. He was looking at 30 feet from ball to pin. No problem. He sank an arrowstraight putt to chop another stroke. “When it got crazy is when I made the putt on eight,” he observes. “Whoa. I thought, ‘This could be a special round.’” A golf adage assures that one bashes the driver for show. A deft touch on the green is what puts a player in the money. Poa annua can consign old sayings to the bin, however. One study found that from between 4 to 8 feet, golfers make more than 68 percent of their attempts. On the sturdy bluegrass, that figure drops to 66 percent—a small number that adds up as a round goes on. On nine Clark stood over the ball, studied the contours of the green and recognized a dip. From 25 feet, he sent the ball slightly to the right. As it closed on the hole, the ball curled a few inches to the left and dropped in for a birdie. A few dozen fans applauded in approval. There still was not a large gallery following the group. That would change. HOLES 10-12 “I started feeling the nerves kind of on 10,” Clark admitted after the round. “I think in the past I would have kind of coasted in and shot a nice 8-, 9-under. To keep the pedal down and to stay aggressive mentally was the most impressive thing to myself.” From the tee, he chose to challenge the fairway bunkers on the right. The drive found the choppy rough surrounding a trap. Yet this is how his round was shaping up. Clark’s was not a flawless effort. But for every shot that spelled potential trouble, he countered with an improbable recovery. So while his drive on 10 went astray, Clark’s approach shot, on the other hand, was remarkable—a three-quarter swing, lofting the ball for a soft landing, less than four feet from the stick. Clark tapped in for another birdie. The 11th followed suit. Nerves flared on the tee and Clark’s drive again got tangled in the rough. His second shot faced threats from bunkers and a treeline. Again, though, he rallied for a birdie. That made five consecutive birdies, preceded by an eagle. Clark was now playing at 10-under. An amateur held the male course record at Pebble Beach. During the 2017 collegiate Carmel Cup, Hurley Long of Texas Tech fired a 61. Now Clark was threatening the mark. But the legendary course was not willing to concede just yet. While the 204-yard par 3 12th may not be one of the course’s signature holes, the fairway narrows suddenly in front of the green. Clark’s 6-iron shot ended up badly, the ball buried in the right front bunker. His attempt to blast it from the sand also went awry. This time the ball hung on a narrow strip of rough on the fringe of another greenside trap—a particularly deep one, at that. He considered his options, none of which were promising. For the right-handed golfer to hit a conventional wedge, he would need to take his stance in the bunker. The ball would be almost at waist level. Professional golf is a numbers game. On the fairway, for example, a player and his or her caddie know just how far they can carry each club, as well as where the ball will land if they decide to take 10 percent off the swing. “What’s my number?” is a question often tossed from golfer to caddie. Percentages also come into play on and around the green. In his mind, Clark considered the chance of clipping the ball with the club’s heel or socket too high for comfort. Fail to strike it cleanly and the ball would careen who knows where. And he was already in a desperate situation. So he turned around and lined up left-handed. “I didn’t know what to do,” Clark admits. “Everyone thought it was a bad play.” Striking the ball left-handed not only required him to turn around. It also meant holding the club awkwardly, the toe of the clubface pointing down. If caddie John Ellis protested the idea, Clark gave no indication at the time. He just went about sizing up Clark often found a little trouble off the tee, but he kept recovering throughout the day. “WHOA. I THOUGHT, ‘THIS COULD BE A SPECIAL ROUND.’”
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