Who will be next to win for the first time on the PGA TOUR?

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Rickie Fowler may not be the highest-ranked player without a win, but he could be the first person to pull it off.

Relief flashed over Tim Clark's face Sunday night when he learned that Robert Allenby's birdie try at the 72nd hole had missed and -- finally -- Clark had won for the first time on the PGA TOUR.

It was soon followed by a quick look of consternation when he did his first interview.

"So what are you guys going to say about me now?" Clark said.

Clark was correct: For more than a year, he had been referred to as The Player Who Has Won The Most Money On The PGA TOUR Without A Victory (he entered last week having won more than $14.6 million in his 205 professional starts).

But not only did the 34-year-old earn a career-best $1.71 million pay day with his one-shot victory over Allenby at THE PLAYERS Championship, Clark also removed the most-money-with-no-title albatross from his neck.

Now that honor -- as dubious as it might be -- falls to Briny Baird ($11.3 million in 314 starts), with Brett Quigley ($10.6 million in 376 tries) not far behind.

Does that make Baird and Quigley the best players not to win on the PGA TOUR? Of course not.

Does anyone think Baird and Quigley have the potential of Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who just eight days ago fired a scintillating final-round 62 to win the Quail Hollow Championship for his inaugural PGA TOUR title?

The golf world has gotten smaller and smaller in recent years, with most of the top foreign-born players now playing primarily on the PGA TOUR. That means career money is no longer the most important barometer to measure a player's potential -- or his lack of meeting expectations.

McIlroy, for instance, barely ranked inside the top 500 in career earnings before the then-20-year-old had his breakthrough moment in Charlotte.

That means you have to look elsewhere to find the next breakthrough winner on the PGA TOUR -- the Official World Golf Rankings. Currently, there are just two players ranked inside the top 30 that have yet to win on the PGA TOUR: No. 11 Martin Kaymer of Germany and No. 25 Charl Schwartzel of South Africa.

Schwartzel, with 26 career starts on the PGA TOUR, has come the closest to winning in the U.S. At this year's CA Championship at Doral, Schwartzel did everything but beat his countryman, Ernie Els, before settling for a second-place finish. Three weeks later, Schwartzel was T3 at the Shell Houston Open.

Kaymer has won five times in Europe, where he plays most of his golf. His best showing in the U.S. in 25 tries was a T6 at last year's PGA Championship at Hazeltine. When you talk to the top European players, they all believe Kaymer is a star in the making. But Clark was also highly-regarded, and it took him a full decade to finally notch that first W.

Italy's Francesco Molinari (No. 39 in the world) also was poised this weekend to become just the fourth first-timer to win THE PLAYERS Championship after opening with rounds of 68-65. But he missed too many putts and settled for a ninth-place finish.

There could be another Molinari to break through. Francesco's older brother, Edoardo -- they combined to win last year's Omega Mission Hills World Cup -- is ranked even higher (No. 37). Big brother skipped THE PLAYERS to play in the Italian Open in his hometown, finishing 13th.

There are 12 other players ranked inside the top 50 in the world rankings who have yet to win on the PGA TOUR, mostly foreign-born: Robert Karlsson (No. 31), Alvaro Quiros (No. 33), Ross Fisher (No. 35), Miguel Angel Jimenez (No. 38), Ryo "Mr. 58" Ishikawa (No. 40), Yuta Ikeda (No. 41), Louis Oosthuizen (No. 44), Thongchai Jaidee (No. 47), Michael Sim (No. 48), Oliver Wilson (No. 49) and Soren Hanson (No. 50).

For these players to have a better chance at winning on the PGA TOUR, they're likely going to have to follow McIlroy's path of deciding to become a PGA TOUR member.

The lone American ranked in the top 50 not to win on the PGA TOUR? That would be Kevin Na (No. 45), who has three seconds in 173 career starts.

But Na isn't the top U.S. player most expect to win on the PGA TOUR first. That honor -- or burden -- falls to No. 52 Rickie Fowler, who already has a pair of runner-up finishes in just 21 career starts, including a playoff loss; and No. 58 Steve Marino, who has a pair of seconds and more than $6.5 million in earnings the last four years.

My money rests with Fowler. He has the "look" of a winner, and I'm not talking about his wardrobe that's louder than the crowd around the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass.

Of course, most of Clark's peers expected the South African to have won long before Sunday. Sometimes, it just takes time. And usually, it takes a lot of time.

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.