After T29 and T39 finishes to begin his 2024 PGA Tour season, Wyndham Clark came alive on Saturday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, with the American carding a 12-under-par round of 60.
Although it was the lowest round ever seen at Pebble Beach, due to pick and place being in play, it doesn't count as a course record. For Clark though, it meant he finished Saturday top of the leaderboard by one stroke and, with the weather on Sunday potentially meaning a 54-hole finish, the American will fancy himself to add yet more silverware to his collection.
When Clark claimed his US Open win in 2023, it was the putter that did most of the damage. At Pebble Beach, it was a similar story, with the 30-year-old making over 190 feet worth of putts! Speaking after his 60, it was a putting session prior to the tournament that gave Clark the confidence to go low on Saturday.
"I've got to give some credit to my team. I worked with a guy by the name of Mike (Kanski). Just met him this week. I flew in early Sunday, spent about three, four hours with him, I had nine putters on the putting green," explained Clark on Saturday evening.
At the US Open in June 2023, Clark and Rickie Fowler were paired together in the final group on the final day. What stood out is the fact that Clark had an exact replica of Fowler's putter made at the beginning of the season!
"I've been using kind of the putter that Rickie and I have been using, kind of started using that last year and I've really struggled on the greens since the US Open. So basically I brought these putters and we resorted to changing to no line on the putter, I went a little bit shorter and I went from being conventional to cross-hand.
"A lot of big changes, but when you were as... when you're in a spot where I was mentally, in putting, you kind of needed a change, just something totally different so you couldn't complain or have those same feels that I had in previous tournaments. So yeah, a lot changed, but I think not having the line on the putter's been the biggest thing for me."
The putter in question is the Odyssey Versa Jailbird mallet, with Clark reportedly switching to Odyssey's Ai-One Jailbird putter at Pebble Beach. Along with the grip change, something which Clark admitted is "not a normal thing" for him after using it just a handful of times, he was able to produce a stunning 23 putts on Saturday that, arguably, could have been even lower.
Sitting one shot ahead of Ludvig Aberg, Clark is in pole position to pick up the $3.6 million first prize and, on the basis of his praise, we are sure he will buy Kanski a beer for all his work in getting Clark's putter to roll how he wants it.
"He works under Phil Kenyon, which is Max's (Homa) putting coach. PK couldn't work with me, so he said this guy (Kanski) was available. I said, hey, I just need someone to look at this. By no means did he, I think, have the intentions of changing a lot, but as we kind of talked and went through it here last Sunday, we kind of came up with where I'm at right now. It's pretty nice to see the ball roll where I want and go in... I don't think I've had a better putting round."
