Wyndham Clark has been extremely frustrated with the way he’s played in the majors since his triumph at the 2023 US Open. Those frustrations boiled over in a big way on Sunday at Quail Hollow, where a final-round 74 sank him into a tie for 50th.
First impressions of the custom-built SoFi Center that serves as the home of TGL, the new simulator-based team golf circuit that debuts in January, is that no expense appears to have been spared. It is singularly impressive, operationally functional and groundbreaking in the technical sense for which it was created.
This time last year, Wyndham Clark rolled into the Open at Royal Liverpool as US Open champ. This week, ahead of the 152nd Open at Royal Troon, Clark was not even among the 15 betting favourites, checking in at $60 or higher on most pre-tournament odds.
Another major week is upon us and that means Golf Channel crash-test dummy Johnson Wagner is zipping up the fire suit, taking out a second life insurance policy and getting ready to step into the breach once again.
Why are the players so worried about Pinehurst’s greens? It’s a combination of severe slopes and the USGA’s willingness to place hole locations on the edges of those slopes.
If he can finish the job at the Players on the weekend, it will further cement the narrative of Clark rising for the big events heading into major season.
Scottie Scheffler insisted this type of performance was coming. At Bay Hill, he mowed down the field with a red-hot putter and claimed his second Arnold Palmer Invitational. (Next up: TPC Sawgrass.)
With a mere couple of taps of his club behind a ball in the rough, reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark caused a stir on the television broadcast of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and, of course, in many golf corners of social media.
A win is a win. It doesn’t matter if it’s 54 holes, Wyndham Clark is your new AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am victor. That comes with 700 FedEx Cup points, $US3.6 million and (apparently) an ice cream treat that’ll make LIV golfers second-guess their decision.
Clark, who ranked first in strokes gained/putting for the week, picked up more than six shots on the field on the greens in his first competitive outing with the Odyssey Ai One Jailbird Cruiser mallet.
Australian Golf Digest
