Wyndham Clark can read a putt and a room. He showed up on moving day at the BMW Championship wearing a navy blue cap, orange polo, navy trousers and white cleats.
“Did you purposely wear Broncos colors?” I asked after his impressive third round at Castle Pines Golf Club.
“Yeah,” said Clark after a long pause. “I did.”
Like many of his decisions this week, it proved a good choice.
Clark walked off the 18th green at 7-under, nestled in fifth place, five shots behind leader Keegan Bradley. Clark had never played a PGA event in Colorado. Beginning in June, he appeared in commercials with John Elway and Peyton Manning and at a press conference to explain the importance of top golf — not Top Golf — returning to our state.
He became the face of the tournament, the guy to give out tips on where to eat, where to fly fish, where to do anything unique to this area. He has handled it with aplomb and patience. But then came the hard part: Figuring out how to handle the golf. You know, the reason he was here.
It wasn’t too long ago that Clark was known as a club chucker, a golfer with a temper. His talent was overshadowed by his anger and inconsistency. He found a fresh start at the University of Oregon — think of him as the golf team’s Bo Nix — but struggled to make the success translate on the tour.
He joined in 2017. He finally posted his first victory in May 2023 at the Wells Fargo Championship. Six weeks later, he won the U.S. Open.
This seemed inconceivable when he stammered off the course in Detroit in 2020 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, injured, ineffective and seemingly incurable.
The prescription was finding the right team. More than five hours before he walked off 18 after carding a 69 on Saturday, Clark putted under the watchful eye of caddie John Ellis. His mental coach Julie Elion walked with him to the chipping station and then to the driving range. When he finished the round, family engulfed him outside the media interview tent.
This is the explanation for success. The lonely golfer walking up the fairway is a myth, the support system is always with him. And especially with Wyndham.
“It’s very important. It’s funny, it’s an individual sport and we are out there and you only see the player. But there’s a ton that goes on behind the scenes,” Clark said. “It’s the trainers, your family, your mental coach, your caddy, your putting coach, they have all helped me when things aren’t going good to get me out of that, and when they are going good they keep me in a great spot. They also keep me grounded.”
This was rarely more important than in the past three days. Everybody wants to come home. Until they do. It is difficult to be everything to everybody, then live up to the expectations that accompany the No. 5 ranking in the world.
Some go into radio silence. Turn off the phone. Birdies can be hard enough without worrying about tweets. Others find a focus that borders on an unhealthy obsession.
Forget Thursday’s rain. A tornado of love has been following Clark around the course, and he has put his arms around it. You know about Celtics NBA champion Derrick White — he’s walked 18 all three days — but Clark estimated he had 200 friends and family tracking his every swing. Suddenly, normal felt different. And there was no ignoring his pack. Many were wearing white caps with “Dub Club” in pink letters on the front and on the back “Play Big” — his late mother Lise’s slogan, and something she told Wyndham on her deathbed in 2013.
“I try to make eye contact as much as possible. Golf is so tough. Not that I am at this level, but I feel a little bit like Tiger and how he always had the most amazing fan support and he’d be walking through and everyone is pumping you up,” Clark said. “You get your levels raised up so much, it’s been really tough for me to calm down before I hit my next shot. But I feel like I have done a good job of it.”
The evolution of Clark has been televised. Golf is no longer heavy. Sure, there are bad shots, forgettable days. But there is a lightness to Clark that makes his transformation seem more rooted than the pines lining the course.
His goal this week was to enter Sunday in contention. It began to crystallize with three birdies on the front nine. He bogeyed 10, the type of shot that could have sent a younger Clark into a spiral. He steadied himself with six straight pars. It set up his best moment of the tournament.
The 17th seemed an unlikely place for an escape room. At least for Clark. But when you learn to control your mind and mood, the possibilities are endless. When Clark lofted his second shot 212 yards onto the green he celebrated with his arms in the air, an expression of relief.
“It’s a pretty easy hole and everyone is out here torching par 5s except for me,” Clark said. “I finally hit the fairway and green.”
He was thinking birdie. His putter was thinking bigger. Clark drained a 16-footer for an eagle that circled left like it was parking in a cul-de-sac, leading to an eruption of noise.
“The crowds have been awesome. I have had the juices flowing. And I was battling being the hometown kid, and the pressure that comes with that,” Clark said. “I haven’t been starting very well in tournaments, so it feels like I have overcome a lot of things.”
Clark has momentum. And he is managing the attention. When his round ended, Broncos quarterback Zach Wilson was in the clubhouse. And before he could scoot to his car, coach Sean Payton hollered hello to the hometown star. Clark acknowledged him, then returned to signing autographs and taking pictures.
The snapshot of Clark smiling was a reminder that regardless of what happens Sunday, this week has been a Wyn.
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Originally Published: August 24, 2024 at 6:59 p.m.
