Clark Dennis: 'Failure happens – sometimes you lose your mind out there'

You would like Clark Dennis a lot. For a start he’s one of a rare breed of American golfer who has chosen to give things a go in Europe, which is always a good thing, plus he’s genuine, interesting, normal and all the other good things.

We share a mutual friend and this person was on the bag for Dennis’ devastating back nine at Woburn in the Travis Perkins Masters. Dennis, who had already had a couple of near misses in his rookie 2017 season, found himself seven shots clear in one of the European Senior Tour’s biggest weeks. Four birdies in the first five holes, after a 65 on the Saturday, and the maiden win looked set to happen.

And then three double bogeys happened and Phil Golding nipped in for the victory, with Dennis losing by one.

Later that night Dennis messaged his caddie to thank him for doing a great job, how naturally disappointed he was before signing off: ‘There is always next week.’

That next week he won in Italy.

Dennis’ path to the Senior – now Staysure – Tour is an unfamiliar one. Having grown up playing at Colonial Country Club much of his career was spent either on the PGA or Nationwide, now Web.com, having played his college golf with John Daly at Arkansas.

“John has always been John, he’s a free spirit and a generous, nice guy but he is wild. I’ve known him since he was 14 and he’s not changed a bit since.”

Dennis played mini tours with Tom Lehman, is friends with Chris DiMarco and Jesper Parnevik, and joined the main tour in 1990 at 23, graduating with Lee Janzen. And four years later nearly won the US Open.

Clark Dennis

What made you go to Q School in the first place?

If you’re going to play professional golf and you’re over 50 then there are only 10 spots available at Q School on the Champions Tour. You could try Japan but that’s really tough as a foreigner.

I played six events on the Champions Tour in 2016 and that wasn’t enough competition to play sharp. The goal is always the Champions Tour as an American but I was aware of the European Senior Tour – a fellow Texan John Grace played on it a few years ago and enjoyed it – and they always run good tournaments.

So I entered Q School for the second time, there are only five spots available and I missed out in 2016. Fortunately I made it.

How did you think your game was going to stack up?

I wasn’t sure because the courses and weather are so different in Europe and, playing in the US for most of my career, I hadn’t experienced a lot of that. It was all so unknown but I had a good round in the first tournament in Sharjah and was fourth in Finland in my next start and that gave me the confidence to go through the rest of the year.

How much had you previously played in Europe?

I played in a couple of Scottish Opens at Loch Lomond and was maybe 11th one year.

I also tried to qualify for a couple of Open Championships, at Carnoustie in 1999 and I think Lytham, but that was the extent of my play in Europe. There were a lot of blind shots and I was totally under prepared for that kind of golf. And Loch Lomond was obviously so American in the set-up.

I just missed out through the PGA Tour money list so I never played in an Open.

What stopped you being more successful on the PGA Tour?

I got up to 65th in the world at one point and was looking like becoming a good player but I never went beyond that.

Clark Dennis

I had a couple of good years and when my wife had our third child, in 2000, she got very sick and was in a coma for two weeks. She had Philip and 24 hours later she had a grand mal seizure and almost died, it was touch and go. It took her six months to recover, she’s fine now but it was a difficult time in our lives.

For whatever reason that stopped my career – I took a year off to take care of my wife and I never got my game back to the level that I wanted.

I played the Nationwide after that and it was always a bit of a mystery why I wasn’t doing better but I never did.

How did that experience alter your perspective on your golf?

Having gone through that golf becomes very insignificant. The possibility of losing your wife and your best friend and having three very small children to look after is an eye-opener for sure. It probably affected my desire a little bit. I’ll always love golf but it’s not everything.

More than anything last year my attitude and perspective, and to have my family with me on tour, I just had fun the whole year and, when you’re enjoying yourself, it is easier to play well.

I knew players from playing in the States but very little and I made some new friends. The Champions Tour is similar; they’re very laid back, there are no cuts and that is good for me, I just enjoyed it. It was almost like a vacation.

What were the highlights away from the course?

We had a great time in Switzerland where we had never been before and then got the train to Germany. We had a week in Paris and Normandy where we visited the American cemetery and that was so interesting. My boys are all history buffs and we had a fantastic time, and there is all the art and museums so it was just a unique experience and I would never have done it had I not been playing on the Senior Tour.

Has your success been noticed at home?

Definitely, I have had a lot of enquiries about what it was like and I think you will see a few Americans at Q School this year. There are a few guys who have won on the PGA Tour but who aren’t exempt for Champions Tour so it will be interesting.

Clark Dennis

How did you turn around what happened at Woburn to a win the following week?

Failure is going to happen in golf, even the World No. 1 Dustin Johnson blew a big lead in China, it just happens. Sometimes you lose your mind out there.

But, if I blew a tournament, then I wasn’t going to worry about it. I was mad at the time but I got over it pretty quick and took some confidence from it and I knew I would get over the line at some point.

Fortunately that happened twice in the next few weeks. If I had let it bother me too much then those wouldn’t have happened.

Winston Churchill famously said “success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts” and they say you’re only as good as your last week.

The following week in Italy I made a nice birdie in the play-off with a 20-foot putt. The tournament was only over two rounds because of the weather but it was still a play-off.

At the Dutch Masters the weather wasn’t great but I felt very comfortable and played a great bogey-free final round and, yes, I felt better. Those failures did help me, I hadn’t played a high level of competitive golf for a while and I hadn’t been in contention so it took me a little while.

What do you remember about finishing 6th at the 1994 US Open?

I played so well that week, I really could have won it. I shot two over the back nine with a couple of really foul breaks.

I didn’t get a great ruling by the 10th green and that cost me a shot, at the 15th I had a hard lip out, at 16 I three-putted from 25 feet, at 17 I hit it to five feet and missed, and at 18 I missed a birdie from six feet. My ball striking was phenomenal – I thought at the time this would become the norm but I never re-kindled that in a major.

And that got you into the Masters the year after?

I missed the cut by a shot. I shot 73-73 and Jay Haas finished with four birdies to get to 9-under and I missed out on the 10-shot rule.

I had a phenomenal time. You can’t imagine it being that hilly and you can’t appreciate it being as beautiful from the TV until you are there. Nothing is out of place, I’ve never seen anywhere else like it.

The European Senior Tour has a new title sponsor in Staysure and the promise of more tournaments so it appears to be making something of a comeback?

Yes, Staysure have come on board and David MacLaren has done a phenomenal job in charge and has almost brought it back from the dead. I’ve not seen the final schedule for 2018 but there will be more tournaments in interesting places and more great courses.

Is there a plan to get on the Champions Tour?

As an American the goal is to get on that tour, the purses are so much bigger and I’m trying to make a living.

Having won the money list I’ll get in the five majors but hopefully also a few others like the Tradition and the Players. If I was to Monday qualify for a couple more that would be nine starts and that might be enough to get in the play-offs which is the top 72.

Getting invites are pretty hard, you need an unrestricted spot and there are only two of them and they go to locals. You have major champions who can’t get in some weeks, it is a tough tour and there are only 78 players every week.