Howard Keith Clark (born 26 August 1954) is an English

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf p ...

who played on the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

for many years and had his most successful period in the mid-1980s.

Early life and amateur career

Clark was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

, England. He learned the game from his father, who was a scratch amateur. He won the 1971 Boys Amateur Championship and played for Great Britain & Ireland in the

1973 Walker Cup The 1973 Walker Cup, the 24th Walker Cup Match, was played on August 24 and 25, 1973, at The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts. The event was won by the United States 14 to 10. Great Britain and Ireland failed to win any foursomes matches, l ...

Professional career

Clark turned professional in 1973 and joined the European Tour in 1974. His first professional tournament win came in the 1975 Greater Manchester Open. In 1976 he won the T.P.D. Under-25 Championship and his first win on the European Tour was two years later at the 1978 Portuguese Open. Clark's final tally of European Tour wins was eleven, including pairs of wins in four consecutive seasons from 1984 to 1987. He also won the individual title at the World Cup of Golf in 1985. His best placing on the Order of Merit was third, which he achieved in both 1984 and 1986. His form fell away in the early 1990s but revived for a time in the middle of that decade, and he made the top twenty on the Order of Merit in 1994 and 1995. His last season on the tour was 1999 and he subsequently worked as an on-course commentator for

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside f ...

before moving to

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. Clark played in the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

six times and was on three winning European teams and also the 1989 team which tied the match and retained the Cup.

Amateur wins

*1971 Boys Amateur Championship

Professional wins (14)

European Tour wins (11)

''*Note: The 1984 Whyte & Mackay PGA Championship was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.'' European Tour playoff record (1–1)

Other wins (3)

*1975 Greater Manchester Open *1976 T.P.D. Under-25 Championship *1985

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(individual title)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (1987 Masters – 1989 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Team appearances

Amateur *

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...

(representing Great Britain & Ireland):

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

Professional *

(representing Great Britain and Ireland/Europe): 1977, 1981, 1985 (winners), 1987 (winners), 1989, 1995 (winners) *

Hennessy Cognac Cup The Hennessy Cognac Cup was a biennial team golf tournament contested from 1976 to 1984. The contests in 1976, 1978 and 1980 were between teams of professional male golfers; one team representing Great Britain and Ireland, the other team representi ...

(representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1978 (winners), (representing England) 1984 (winners) *

(representing England): 1978,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

(individual winner),

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

Dunhill Cup The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championshi ...

(representing England):

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

(winners),

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Nissan Cup Nissan Cup (french: Coupe Nissan) was an ice hockey tournament for men's national teams, which was played in Switzerland between 1988 Nissan Cup, 1988-1994 Nissan Cup (November), 1994. Originally played in November, the tournament was later moved ...

(representing Europe): 1985, 1986

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Howard English male golfers European Tour golfers Ryder Cup competitors for Europe Sportspeople from Leeds People from Knaresborough 1954 births Living people