Wyndham Clark is in some of the best form of his career, and he has credited World No.1 Scottie Scheffler as the inspiration.
Clark won the weather-affected Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February and he’s firmly in contention for his maiden Players Championship title after back-to-back 65s in the opening two rounds of the PGA Tour's flagship event.
The American spoke to the media after his second successive commanding round saw him head to the clubhouse with a sizeable lead going into the weekend.
He began by dismissing suggestions that, like LIV Golf’s Brooks Koepka, he is developing a tendency to save his best form for the bigger tournaments. He said: “No. I mean, I guess you guys could say what you want on that. I just really don't know what it is. I would like to play great every week.”
Clark then revealed that, in fact, it’s Scheffler he is trying to emulate. He continued: “I really looked at how Scottie has been playing this year and last year and I use him as someone to try to keep up with, and he plays good every week. So my thing is just try to be consistent and with our schedule now too you kind of only play big events, so that's part of it as well.”
Clark, who is fifth in the world rankings, arguably couldn’t have picked a better role model. World No.1 Scheffler is the defending champion at this week's event and came into the tournament on the back of victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Not only that, but his second round 69 at TPC Sawgrass was his 25th successive under-par score on the PGA Tour.
Clark admitted Scheffler's consistency is what he aspires to. He said: “I have so much respect for Scottie and his game and consistency and he really is kind of the meter right now of where you want to try to be.
“I think the best thing about Scottie is his consistency. That's something that last year - I mean, I was very consistent in making cuts and kind of always being in the top 20 and then I won a few times, but Scottie's always in contention. He's pushed me to be better and it's fun to watch him and so I'm really trying to catch him. I really owe a lot to him to some of my good golf of late.”
Clark’s excellent form has guaranteed a maiden appearance at this year’s Masters, and with one eye on the first Major of the year, he also revealed that he had visited Augusta National last week for the first time in his life. He said: “I have had two opportunities to go prior to that, and I kind of made a little pact with myself that I wouldn't go until I was eligible to play in the tournament.
“It was a really cool trip because I went with my dad and brother, who they have never been and so we went and had an awesome kind of Clark boys trip and it was very memorable.”
