Overnight leader Furyk has no answer to Clark’s birdie blitz

South Africa’s Tim Clark birdied five of his last eight holes on Sunday to power past Jim Furyk and win the Canadian Open.

Clark, who won the prestigious Players Championship in 2010 for his only prior PGA Tour title, posted a final round five-under-par 65 on Royal Montreal’s Blue Course for a 17-under total of 263 and a one-stroke victory over Furyk.

Furyk, 44, took a three-stroke lead into the final round and seemed poised to claim a third career Canadian Open title, and end his own victory drought stretching back to his 2010 Tour Championship triumph.

Like Clark, the American had just one bogey and one birdie on the front nine, but he couldn’t find the birdies he needed to hold off the hard-charging South African coming in, signing for a one-under 69 for 264.

Level for the day through nine holes, Clark caught fire with back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12. He added another brace at 14 and 15 to move ahead of Furyk — calmly sinking a 10-footer at 15 in the wake of a 25-minute rain delay.

Furyk, who balanced a bogey at the fourth with a birdie at seven, then made nine straight pars before matching Clark’s birdie at the par-three 17th to head to the last one adrift.

Furyk was unable to convert a 12-foot birdie attempt at 18 to force a play-off, his attempt sliding wide after Clark left a long birdie putt six feet short.

Clark made his par attempt to seal the win.

“I didn’t really want to play 18 again in a play-off,” said Clark. “It was huge for me to get it finished right there. I just got hot with the putter on that back nine.”

Furyk, coming off a fourth-place finish at the Open, has now failed to convert his last seven 54-hole leads into wins.

“I’ve got no one to blame but myself,” said Furyk, who didn’t make a putt from outside four feet on the back nine.

Clark’s 17-under total tied the Canadian Open record set by Johnny Palmer in 1952 and Scott Piercy in 2012.