It’s tough to find much fault with a bogey-free round of 65. But it’s easy to scrutinize Tim Clark’s decision to lay up on the 18th hole, a relatively straightforward and easily reachable in two par 5 — especially since his T2 at the Bob Hope Classic was his 8th runner-up finish on the PGA Tour and he remains winless in 197 starts.

Going into the final hole, Clark was tied for the lead. While he must have figured he needed to make a birdie to force a playoff, he opted for the safe play, laying up with a 7-iron. He followed it with a good wedge shot into the green, which left him a makeable eight-foot putt. But Clark, who hasn’t proven to be clutch in these situations, missed and settled for a par and another bridesmaid title.

Hear Timmy make excuses explain his reasoning:

There’s a chance I could have gotten there, but a great shot still would have left me probably over the ridge with a tough 30-footer down the slope.

My wedge game is my strength, so I knew laying it up, I hopefully wouldn’t have more than 10 feet. And I left myself a perfect 7- to 8-footer, not much to it.

So at the end of the day, I think I did what I needed to, to give myself a best look at birdie there. I certainly didn’t want to throw away the tournament. If I hit my 3-wood there, it’s probably going to come up short in the water. A great shot is probably going to either leave me a long 2-putt or a chip from the back of the green, which I didn’t want either.

So I tried to play it the way I played the whole round and the whole week. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and try and do anything silly.

But he’s never been solid with seven to eight footers in must-make-to-win moments. Rewind back to the Crowne Plaza Invitational last year. After bogeying the final hole in regulation by leaving a par putt short, he flubbed a straightaway seven-footer in the first playoff hole to lose to Steve Stricker.

Had he left himself a long putt after reaching the green in two, he would have still only had to two-putt for a birdie, giving him a chance to win. In the less favorable scenario where he hit it over the green, at least he wouldn’t have looked gutless.

When it comes to winning tournaments, the so-called safe play isn’t always the right one. In this scenario, it wasn’t. It’s like Clark was protecting a lead he didn’t have, which is what seems silly to me — unless he doesn’t mind continuing to be one of the best players to never have hoisted a trophy. Meanwhile, Bill Haas knocked a 3-iron to 30 feet on the 18th and two-putted his way to his first Tour victory.

[Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images]

Perhaps it’s just me, but the turn of events yesterday at the Crowne Plaza Invitational strangely reminded me of the Masters. The main similarity is obvious - Clark was gunning for his first PGA victory and Perry was aiming for his first major championship, and well, neither of them were able to seal the deal.

Remember how important those final holes were in determining the outcome at the Masters? Perry led by two going into the final day and finished the last two holes bogey-bogey. His blunders resulted in a three-way tie for the lead between himself, Angel Cabrera and Chad Campbell. I’m pretty sure we all remember the outcome. Cabrera. Green Jacket.

Similar to the Masters, a three-way playoff ensued between Steve Stricker, Steve Marino and Clark. Like Cabrera, Stricker had the momentum going into the playoff and executed clutch shots coming down the stretch. And like Perry, Clark couldn’t recover and let his nerves get the best of him. Campbell and Marino (the “other” runner-ups) never seemed like a serious threat or factor in both cases.

When Stricker was asked about recovering from missing his short par putt on 16 in regulation and about closing a win, he responded:

It’s always tense coming down to the stretch, the final few holes of a tournament when you are in contention. That’s what makes winning difficult and hard to do […] It’s about the ups and downs, and you got to learn to pull yourself up after it happened, or something doesn’t go your way. […] But, you know, you just got to keep plugging and do what you know how to do, hit it in the fairway and that’s what ended up happening.

Excellent point.

It appeared that Stricker was out of contention after he bogeyed the 16th. But that’s the beauty of golf - one shot or one hole can change things very quickly. Stricker didn’t play flawlessly. Being that he hadn’t won since 2007, he had quite a bit on the line as well - the difference is that he had experience and knew what it took to win. He just continued to play his game. As did Cabrera at the Masters.

It wasn’t the Masters, but you can bet that this loss will haunt Clark for a while.

But unlike Perry who is 48 and most likely won’t have another shot at winning a major championship, Clark is only 33 years old. You can bet he’s reflected on his mental breakdown blunders, and he’ll make light of it the next time around. His time to raise the trophy will come soon enough.

Steve Stricker never let up. He was two down with two to play. After missing a short par putt on the 16th hole, he chipped in for birdie on the 17th, which ended up getting him into the playoff with Tim Clark and Steve Marino, both of whom were gunning for their first win on Tour. Stricker knocked his approach shot to 3-feet of the pin and sank the birdie putt on the second sudden death hole to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

You could say Stricker caught a few lucky breaks along the way and capitalized on them. You could also say Clark straight-up choked. In my opinion, it was a combination of the two.

Clark made BOGEY on the 18th hole - he left his par putt short, no less. He almost (key word) had the win under his belt, but he lost momentum when it mattered the most. Then, on the first playoff hole, he missed a straightaway 7-foot putt. And well, all I have to say is that’s not what winners do.

To his credit, Clark hit a solid approach shot on the second sudden death hole - but unfortunately, it hit the pin and bounced 20 feet backwards. The look on his face said it all - like he’d just been punched in the gut. Call it bad luck, but that’s just golf.

With that said, Stricker was the deserving champion, particularly because of the impressive way he finished. He did the best job of defining the moment, rather than letting the moment define him.

It looks like Vijay Singh is back in the groove this week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

The 2008 FedEx Champion has been battling a knee injury since January. He’s only made 7 of 11 cuts this year and ranked. Despite a slow start, Singh’s been improving in his recent appearances. Singh placed T-9 at The PLAYERS, and last week at the Byron Nelson Championship, he finished T-16, shooting three consecutive rounds in the 60s.

Singh followed his first round score of 6-under-par 64 with yet another 64, today - Bogey-free, no less! He’s currently in 3rd place and a mere two shots off the lead behind Steve Stricker going into the weekend.

What’s his secret been? After yesterday’s round, Singh, a man of few words, said, “Now I got to practice.” No way! There’s a shocker. I’ve never heard him utter those words. Wait, I almost forgot - He likes to practice…a lot. Jokes aside, I have to give him credit for his intense work ethic - I mean, I’ve heard practice makes perfect.

Let’s see if the 46-year-old vet can keep up his stellar play this weekend. It’d be nice to see him secure his first win since last December. With momentum and practice, there’s a strong possibility that may happen (uh-oh, he’s been hit by the notorious Wei jinx).

Last Sunday, John Daly and Rory Sabbatini both sported pink to show their support for Amy Mickelson’s battle against breast cancer. Earlier this week, the PGA Wives Association and PGA circulated a memo encouraging wives and players to take part in the “Pink Out” by wearing pink clothing on Saturday at the Crowne Plaza Invitational. Many players also have been wearing a pink ribbon on their hats this week.

The Tour is asking fans to do the same as well as encouraging them to take pictures of their outfits and uploading them on the PGA’s Facebook fan page. I’d like to rally everyone to participate. I won’t be at the tournament, but you can be sure I’ll be pinking it out. I’m looking forward to seeing the outpour of pink not only on the course, but by fans/supporters across the board. As a side note, I wonder if Anthony Kim has a blinged-out pink belt…

Pink is the new black, guys. Let’s get it done. But if wearing pink ain’t your thang, I urge you to show your support by donating to organizations that are making a concerted effort each day to raise awareness and find tomorrow’s cure for breast cancer, such as The Pink Agenda. Go HERE to learn more and make a contribution.

The good news is that doctors believe they caught Amy’s cancer early. She went through series of test this week and Phil Mickelson made an announcement on his website yesterday.

“We have a wonderful team of doctors helping us, and it is believed that we caught this early. We are anxiously waiting for a number of test results that will help guide us in the best possible direction.”

I certainly hope that’s the case and our best goes out to the Mickelson family.