June 17, 2005

PINEHURST - Even though he finished with a double-bogey on the ninth hole Thursday, former NC State All-America Tim Clark believed his game was coming around a bit in the 105th U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. Friday, he proved it by posting one of the 14 under-par rounds of the day, a 1-under 69. Midway through the tournament, Clark is tied for 33rd place at 5-over par. However, the other former Wolfpack player in the field, Carl Pettersson, shot a 76 for the day for a two-day total of 153 to miss the cut. Clark shared some thoughts about his second round with gopack.com's Tim Peeler.

Saturday's Tee Times Tim Clark, 11:30 a.m.

I really felt like I was starting to play a little bit better Thursday afternoon. I was putting great and I putted great again today. I just gave myself a few more birdie chances. I really just birdied the par-5s, but I didn't put myself in as much trouble as I did Thursday. My lone bogey came on 16 when I missed a short putt. I also made some good saves, by getting up and down from inside 100 yards. You have to do that out here to have a good score.

I could feel my game coming around a little bit over the last few weeks. Even though I didn't play that well, I managed to finish in a tie for 13th at the Booz Allen Classic last week. It's one of those things. When your game has been missing a few weeks, you can feel it getting better. It gave me a bit of encouragement Friday, knowing that if I could grind it out, I could still make the cut.

Again, I hope my game starts to feel better and better. Two more of those rounds like today could be enough to win the tournament. I have a bit of ground to make up. I need to shoot a couple of more under-par rounds, which won't exactly be easy, but I feel like my game is there now so that I can do it.

You may reach Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.

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