PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tim Clark couldn't afford to look at the leaderboard, much less consider what it would mean to end 204 tournaments of frustration and finally win on the PGA Tour.

He was simply trying to survive yesterday at The Players Championship in the most demanding conditions.

Clark played the final 26 holes without a bogey. He set a Stadium Course record with the largest 36-hole comeback. And with an 8-foot par putt on the final hole for a 5-under 67, he no longer had the distinction as the richest player without a PGA Tour victory.

"A part of me is a bit disappointed because now no one is going to talk about me anymore," Clark said. "At least you had something to write about before. Now I'm just another guy with a win."

Not quite.

Regarded among the best without a PGA Tour title, Clark shed that label by beating the best field in golf.

He made four birdies around the turn to surge past Lee Westwood and Robert Allenby, steadied himself on the scary island-green 17th for a par then finished off his amazing weekend with a demonstrative fist pump when his par putt fell.

"I did all I could there," said Clark, a 34-year-old South African. "That's as good as I could have played."

He needed every shot on a course with greens that were crisp, firm and pale yellow. The average score was nearly three shots higher than it was for the previous three rounds.

Allenby had the best chance to catch Clark, but ended up one stroke behind. He narrowly missed an 18-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole to tie for the lead. His next chance came on the 17th until a 12-foot birdie putt peeked into the cup and tilted back away. Allenby couldn't make birdie on the tough 18th, and had to settle for a 70.

"For it to go up to the hole and take a little look over the top and then come back, that was a bit rude," Allenby said. "But obviously, the golfing gods were with Tim today, and I can accept that. I did everything that I could possibly do to try and win the tournament."

Clark won for the fourth time worldwide, yet this was his finest performance. The Players Championship not only is the richest tournament in golf with a $9.5 million purse, it features the strongest and deepest field all year.

Clark won with a 66-67 weekend in which he made only one bogey — the 10th hole on Saturday. It was the best weekend on the treacherous Stadium Course since Fred Couples shot 132 to win in 1996. The 36-hole comeback topped the record of six that Woods set when he won in 2001.

Clark finished at 16-under 272 and earned $1.71 million.

U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover shot 31 on the back, including a 50-foot birdie on the 17th, and wound up third at 14-under 274.

Westwood had the 54-hole lead, just as he did at the Masters, and couldn't hold on. He made one clutch par after another, including a 50-footer on the 15th hole to stay in the game, but his hopes ended with a tee shot into the water on the 17th to make double bogey.

"I just didn't play well enough today," Westwood said.

Westwood shot 39 on the back and fell into a tie for fourth with Davis Love III, whose 68 was one of only two rounds in the 60s. The other belonged to Clark.

"You wouldn't find one guy in the locker room that wouldn't say he was going to win soon, and he deserves it," Glover said.

ITALIAN OPEN

SWEDE BREAKS THROUGH

TURIN, Italy — Fredrik Andersson Hed of Sweden won the Italian Open by two shots yesterday after shooting a 1-over 73, his first tournament victory in 245 attempts on the European Tour.

Andersson Hed, who led by six strokes heading into the last day, finished at 16-under 272 at the Royal Park course to end a 13-year drought and win $285,877.

David Horsey (68) placed second.