The US Open crowd openly cheered against Wyndham Clark. He won anyway
Bob Harig
Southampton, New York: This year, a new “Code of Conduct” policy has been quietly introduced at each of golf’s major championships in response to concerns about player misconduct on the course. This resulted in a two-shot penalty this week for Chilean Joaquin Niemann, who threw away his club in disgust in the first round of the US Open.
Wyndham Clark was not given any such punishment, but was half-jokingly recommended that he be suspended for the incident that occurred during the incident. last year The U.S. Open was held at the prestigious Oakmont Country Club, where Clark’s cleats left a significant footprint and hole in one of the lockers.
The photos were leaked, and soon Clark was dealing with her second self-inflicted public relations nightmare in a month. At the PGA Championship a few weeks earlier, he had thrown his club in anger, ironically bouncing it off the promotional banner of a company he represented, and was publicly condemned. The Oakmont incident proved even more embarrassing, with the club going so far as to announce that they had banned him from the building.
A year later, the 32-year-old Clark held on to his emotions and his game to win his second U.S. Open on Sunday, edging Sam Burns by one stroke with a 73 (with two shots from 52 feet to the final green). He did this through a series of scoldings, taunts and seemingly perfunctory chants; The golf world still has mixed feelings about a talented golfer with a bitter past.
An “everyone but Clark” vibe emerged in the gallery throughout Sunday’s final round. Some were clearly hoping for a close tournament, but others weren’t subtle about not wanting Clark to win. “Don’t drown Wyndham!” fans chanted as he found a bunker approaching the par-3 seventh green. When he walked off the green with a bogey, his lead fell to one shot over Burns, who had become a crowd favorite as he tried to chase Clark.
“I’ve been through a lot of pain since last year, rightfully so,” Clark said this week at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, where he led after each of the first three rounds, including a massive six-shot advantage in the final round over four players, including Burns and Scottie Scheffler.
“The unfortunate thing is not who I am, it’s what happened last year. I’m hoping that I can win back the fans that I had or some new fans because it was a terrible event. I really feel like I can show people that I’m fun and outgoing, I’m tough, I’m competitive, I love the game, I respect the game and I’m having a bad moment. I hope I can win those people back.”
To Clark’s credit, he did not answer such questions. He dealt with them clumsily but mostly tried to improve. The subject of Oakmont and the locker room incident came up frequently last year; especially since the decline in his play didn’t end until a month ago when he won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson tournament. He followed that up with a third-place finish at the Memorial tournament and an 11th-place finish at last week’s Canadian Open.
And of course, we’ll start with a pre-tournament interview at Shinnecock on Monday.
“This was a really challenging time, and I was very remorseful and felt very bad about doing it,” said Clark, who was required to complete online anger management classes as part of restitution for the Oakmont incident.
“But there were a lot of good lessons in it that really taught me a lot. I’ve really come a long way, and I’m excited for some redemption at this year’s Open, to move forward and enjoy the challenges of Shinnecock and how great this place is and how great this championship is.”
Meanwhile, Clark, who won the 2023 US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, disturbed golf fans with his rule discussions and comments. He was seen caressing the grass behind his ball at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, prompting an investigation before officials cleared him. During the Masters Par 3 competition in April, the golfer quipped that the sheer number of kids running around wearing overalls with their parents was a good reason for birth control.
When he won in Dallas last month, he stated that he would celebrate by “opening some grapes,” which likely went viral and drew further ridicule.
At last week’s Canadian Open, he showed off his mettle with a playful troll on The Rink, the hockey-themed 14th hole that is a replica of the revelry on the par-16 16th found every year at the Phoenix Open.
In the third round, Clark pulled out a hockey jersey and put it on over his golf shirt. But not just any jersey: the Team USA jersey No. 86 of Jack Hughes, hero of the Americans’ Olympic gold medal win over Canada. The Canadians booed him as a sly, evil smile spread across his face.
But he was still working on rehab. He’s made a lot of changes since Oakmont; hired a new swing coach, a new assistant and a new pitcher; also took a new approach to mental health with sports psychologist Julie Elion, who promoted a book and received air time during the broadcast.
Still, it was hard to envision this spectacle being dominated by a golfer seemingly playing a course unlike any other.
“I was on top of the world at least at the top of my game when I won the U.S. Open and then had a couple of good years,” Clark said. “The next thing you know, a year later I’m apologizing for breaking the closet.
“I think there are ebbs and flows in the mental game. If you think of it as climbing Everest, sometimes you go up, sometimes you have to come down to go back up again. I think that’s something that happens both on and off the golf course. I’m trending back up right now, which is nice.”
Washington Post
