Wyndham Clark has made winning PGA Tour events look easy the last few weeks.
After going over two years between wins dating back to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February 2024, he’s won two of the last four events he played in, including his second U.S. Open championship in four years.
Add a third-place finish at Memorial and a tie for 11th at the RBC Canadian Open along with his CJ Cup Byron Nelson victory and Clark is in sensational form, up to fourth in the FedEx Cup rankings entering this week’s Travelers Championship at Cromwell, Conn.
While he missed the cut at the PGA Championship the week before the CJ Cup triumph, he actually credits the week before the PGA as when things started to trend up for him.
“I was a little bummed (when I missed the PGA cut) because I thought, man, this could be our week. I went and fixed that at CJ and then I hit a ton of fairways and then won,” Clark said at his Wednesday press conference. “So that was the momentum kind of started just before the PGA. And then obviously any time you break through and win and make all those putts you just believe you’re going to keep playing good golf and that’s kind of what I’ve done.”
One could imagine there could be some resentment from Clark about how he was treated by the fans in attendance while winning last week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
He began Sunday with a six-stroke lead, but a gallery which clearly wanted a dramatic finish was actively cheering for him to struggle. He saw that lead reduced to one stroke on multiple occasions, but never lost it entirely.
Defending Travelers champion Keegan Bradley said at his press conference that this behavior is an example of how golf’s growth as a sport can have some drawbacks. But Clark doesn’t see it that way.
“I don’t really see any negative in more people coming to the golf. I jokingly think of Happy Gilmore when he first came out and they had all those crazy fans, when he played in that movie. But I think that’s good. It brings new audiences. I think it’s great for the game of golf,” Clark said. “Golf is cool right now. That’s going to bring cool people, and they’re going to want to watch golf and they might react differently. I think maybe it’s a little different in New York than maybe other places, but, no, I think it’s all good.”
Consider Clark also a fan of the revamped PGA Tour promotion/relegation system which will begin in 2028 with a higher-tier Championship Series and lower-tier Challenger Series.
Clark specifically praised the pivot to the season-ending Tour Championship becoming a match-play event.
“I think it’s going to be easier for fans to understand like, alright, when you’re watching a PGA Tour Championship Series you’re going to see all the best players,” Clark said. “And then I love the idea of the relegation and promotion. I just think that will add so much excitement for the fans. Then, yeah, the match play. I mean, I think that’s going to be a really exciting thing for the Tour Championship.
“I just have to applaud Brian Rolapp and the advisory board for all the great work they’re doing for us. It seems like golf’s in a great place and that our team and representatives are making the necessary changes I think that are going to lead the TOUR into an amazing place for the future. So I’m all on board, I think it’s awesome.”
