Those who were paying attention saw this coming. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to happen this soon, but all the signs were there that Wyndham Clark was about to crash a party normally reserved for major champions and the top-ranked golfers in the world.
He told us himself this was coming.
In the June issue of Mile High Sports Magazine, Clark told Vanessa Hughes that when he was leading going into the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship that he asked his friends and family to stay away. Among the many reasons, it added pressure to his own internal drive to win.
“Now that I got the monkey off my back and won my first event, it probably won’t be as big of a deal if they show up,” he told Hughes.
That win at the Wells Fargo was the spark. The US Open was the raging inferno that is now the trajectory of Clark’s golf game.
World Ranking. Up.
FedEx Cup standings. Up.
Ryder Cup ranking Up.
Jump on the ship Colorado sports fans, this is going to be a fun ride for the next several years.
While listening to the broadcast, Dan Hicks and Paul Azinger couldn’t have helped but gush over Clark’s ability to hit the golf ball really freaking hard. But it wasn’t hit driving distance that won the Valor Christian grad his first major championship.
He missed the green on the par-3 ninth. He got up and down for par. He hit a juiced up 3-iron on the par-3 11th, going long and left off the green. His pitch onto the green checked and nearly went in for birdie before he cleaned up for a comfy 3.
It was an adventurous round to be sure and he didn’t do anything Earth-shattering en route to an even-par 70.
But sometimes par is good enough to win.
And Wyndham is a winner. He won two state championships while competing at Valor Christian. He won the 2017 Pac-12 Championship while a member of the Oregon Ducks.
And now, he’s a winner at the highest level of professional golf. As the talent pool has been split over the last year and a half, there are only four tournaments in which the genuine best in the world compete against each other.
Clark has yet to play in the Masters. That won’t be a problem for a while. By winning at the Los Angeles Country Club, Clark will be playing in the Masters for at least the next five years.
The same is true for the Open Championship and the PGA Championship. He gets to play in the US Open for the next 10 years.
Until yesterday, Clark’s best finish in a major was 75th. That was at the 2021 PGA. To get into the US Open that year (his first time playing in the event) he had to get through local and sectional qualifying. He had to go the Tin Cup route.
He has as many major championships as quite a few legendary golfers. Lanny Watkins, Larry Mike, Fred Couples, Paul Azinger, Steve Elkington, Justin Leonard, Davis Love III, Jim Furyk and Darren Clarke. Just to name a few.
He stacks right up next to a list of standout talent of this generation’s golfers.
Patrick Reed, Justin Rose, Gary Woodland, Shane Lowry, Bryson DeChambeau, Hideki Matsuyama, Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cam Smith.
If I was building a Ryder Cup team and had to factor in those players with one major, the only guy I would legitimately take over Clark is Scheffler.
After that? Give me the Denver kid all day, every day.
His win at the Wells Fargo appears to have broken the dam. His US Open victory could be the start of something special.
On the golf course Wyndham Clark is a dude.
And he’s our dude.