LOS ANGELES — Wyndham Clark finally found the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour about five weeks ago.
Now, he’s got his sights set on his first major.
Clark, who won the Wells Fargo Championship in early May, shot a first-round 64 at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course on Thursday to open his 2023 U.S. Open.
His first round 7-under 64 would normally be an outstanding start at a U.S. Open but this time, it was merely good for a tie for second alongside Dustin Johnson. Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele each opened with tournament-record 62s.
Nonetheless Clark is in a great spot to claim his first major championship as he followed up his first-round 64 with a 3-under 67, which puts him at 9 under and owner of the clubhouse lead.
Here are some interesting factoids about the 29-year-old from Denver who was a high school classmate of San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey.
Had one of the shots of the day Friday at U.S. Open
Making birdie the hard way! @Wyndham_Clark ties the lead at -8. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/9KeWnh5c8t
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 16, 2023
It’s difficult to upstage a hole-in-one, but Wyndham Clark’s awkward, sideways lie pitch-out on the par-5 14th hole Friday is at least in the runnerup category for shot of the day.
Clark was playing the back nine first in his second round, and he was in some gnarly stuff near the green but he punched his third shot high into the air, the ball coming to rest about 12 feet from the cup. He then made the putt to get to 8 under and tie for the lead.
“That up-and-down obviously was very risky,” he said. “If it comes up short, I for sure probably maybe bogey. And then if it comes out hot and long. … I brought bogey into play, but I thought I had a really good chance of getting it up-and-down, or at least getting it on the putting surface.”
He would later birdie the 16th to be the first to 9 under this week. A bogey on No. 4, his 13th hole of the day, dropped him to 8 under. He got that shot back with one final birdie on the 8th hole before parring his last, the 9th, for a 67.
A first-time winner in 2023
“Is good at ping pong” is one of the things listed on Clark’s PGA Tour bio. “Good at golf” would be too obvious to put on there, apparently.
On May 7, Clark put the finishing touches on a four-shot victory in Charlotte at the Wells Fargo Championship.
After a handful of close calls, Clark was truly beginning to wonder if he’d ever win on Tour.
“I know that sounds crazy because I’ve only been out here five years, but I had a lot of chances to where I was within two or three shots either going into the back nine or starting on a Sunday and I always seem to fall short, and not only that, but seem like I fell back in positions,” Clark explained. “I think in the past I sometimes shied away maybe from those pressure moments because I would get too amped up.”
Xander Schauffele was runnerup that day. This week at LACC, it may be those two once again racing to the finish line.
—Adam Woodard
When he once didn't make WM Phoenix Open field, he went as a fan
In 2019, Wyndham Clark was the third alternate at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. When he didn’t get into the field, he did what any twentysomething in the Valley of the Sun with the week off would do. On Friday, he came out to the tournament as a spectator and took in the sights of TPC Scottsdale’s infamous par-3 16th hole.
“I had to come see for myself at least once in my life,” he said.
The very next year, Clark torched TPC Scottsdale with a 10-under 61.
—Adam Schupak
Waded in with the wildlife to pull off an amazing shot
Clark once blocked out fears of alligators or other creatures in the lake in 2021 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Playing with teammate Erik van Rooyen that year, Clark hit his tee shot to the edge of a pond on the par-4 16th hole at TPC Louisiana. With van Rooyen having par locked up, he took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his pants and figured he had nothing to lose – except maybe a leg.
“The first thing that went through my mind was snakes because I had to take my shoes off,” he said. “There’s snakes in Louisiana, so I thought about the snakes. And then I was like, well, there’s alligators all over this golf course right now, and so I was just – and it’s also one of the ponds where there’s big ones. I definitely thought about it.”
Sam Ryder made an albatross on No. 2, holing a 5-iron from 206 yards, otherwise Clark’s shot would have been hands-down the shot of the day. From 106 yards, he took a mighty whack with his wedge and the ball exploded out of the muck and sailed on to the green, nearly going in for eagle.
.@Wyndham_Clark isn't afraid of gators or getting a little muddy. 😳 pic.twitter.com/LB8LGGqR8E
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 24, 2021
—Adam Schupak
Played at Oklahoma State but finished college career at Oregon
Clark was the Big 12 Player of the Year as a redshirt freshman at Oklahoma State nearly a decade ago but transferred to Casey Martin’s Oregon Ducks to finish his college career in 2016. He turned pro in 2017.
