PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Wyndham Clark picked a poor time to hit his worst shot of the tournament. But he picked a great time to hit one of his best.
Moments after chunking an ugly wedge shot into the water and well short of the green at the famous par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, Clark stepped up to the same shot and knocked it to 7 feet, then made the putt for a bogey.
The first pump as the ball went into the hole said it all for Clark, who saw a four-shot lead at the start of the round turn into a one-shot deficit to Xander Schauffele at the Players Championship.
“Yeah, it's massive,’’ Clark said after finishing with a 70. “It's unfortunate on a hole that's so iconic and has a bunch of trouble to have kind of your worst swing of the day. But I followed it with a great swing and a great putt. I'm in the final group tomorrow, which is huge.
“I'm hoping that's a huge point in the tournament and we look back after tomorrow and look at that hole and say, hey, that was maybe the shot and the putt that meant it all.’’
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The hole measured just 123 yards on Saturday meaning Clark had no more than a gap wedge. But he said he tried to take a bit off of it, and hit a poor shot, hitting well behind the ball, which came more than 20 yards short of the green.
Then Clark made the somewhat unusual decision to hit from the same spot rather than go to the drop area, which is some 50 yards closer.
“Fortunately I went first and I had some time to think about it,’’ said Clark, whose tee shot was one of just six in the water at the 17th on Saturday. “I asked my caddie, and he's like, it's just too close for us to be able to hit it—the easier shot was just redoing it.
“We had a good club. Honestly, I made a bad swing and chunked it, and if we went closer, I think it made it a tougher shot.’’
Clark made a more aggressive swing and knocked it onto the green, seeing it roll back to 7 feet. Schauffele, who shot 65, had knocked his approach on and two-putted for par to take his first lead of the day.
The two played together in the final round together last year at the Wells Fargo Championship, where Clark won his first PGA Tour event. He has since gone on to win the U.S. Open and earlier this year won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
He was second last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. A victory Sunday would make him the first player in 2024 to win twice on the PGA Tour.
“I think everyone kind of has one round where they have to really grind it out and make those par putts and bogey putts or whatever it is,’’ Clark said. “I felt like that was today. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll wake up laser locked-in focused and can go have an awesome round and hopefully have a great finish here.’’
