Wyndham Clark would be the first to admit that wearing his emotions on his sleeve isn’t always the optimal approach in golf. Never was that more clear than this year, when Clark took out his deep frustrations in the U.S. Open at Oakmont and did the unthinkable, smashing up a locker in one of the most revered clubhouses in America.
Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champ at Los Angeles Country Club, paid the price. He was banned from Oakmont, which required him to meet a list of requirements before returning, and Clark said he felt “terrible” about the uproar he caused.
In truth, the blowup was part of a maddening 2025 season in which Clark posted only two top-10 finishes in 24 starts and finished 56th in the FedEx Cup standings after placing third in 2022-23 and eighth last year.
That in no way sat well with the three-time PGA Tour winner, and after Clark (68) moved into a five-way tie for first on Friday at 10 under in the Hero World Challenge, the 31-year-old was asked, as were some other players, what grade he’d give himself this year. He responded like the harshest English teacher you’ve ever had.
“An F that became an F-plus,” Clark said. “It just was a bad year. A lot of crap happened and then I kind of salvaged it at the end. But the good thing is we’ve got next year and we’re almost done. So yeah, I’m looking forward to next year.”
In a snapshot of how poorly Clark played, he ranked 84th in strokes gained/off-the-tee and a shocking 154th in SG/approach. And he even suffered in arguably the best part of his game—putting—where he ranked 66th this season after being 19th last year.
“Coming off a really poor year, and I’ve worked really hard,” Clark said. “The nice thing is kind of like the last two, three weeks I’ve started to see some improvement, so I’m excited about that.”
Asked specifically what he’s been working on, Clark said, “Just mainly ball-striking. Off the tee I was terrible and my iron play wasn’t as good. You hit it bad off the tee, makes it harder to hit it into the green better.”
Over the past two days in the Bahamas, Clark has played well enough to speak to the media, and he addressed in satisfying detail what he’s been working on. He said his go-to shot has always been a cut, but he progressively was closing the face more than he wanted to. It didn’t help that Clark said he went three years without working with a swing coach. “You get a little bit off,” he said.
He said he saw Butch Harmon a couple of times in ’24 and in this offseason began working with Chris Conyer, a new teaching pro at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado. What Clark is feeling with his strikes now has given him a lot more confidence.
“When I’m on the range I’m thinking of a couple things that I want to do and then while I’m playing, I’m just thinking about the heel leading the toe coming in so I have an open face,” Clark said. “It’s just one simple thought and that’s what I’m going with.”
Of course, this is golf, so there’s always some part of the game that isn’t quite cooperating. “I really haven’t putted great,” Clark said of this week. “I’ve hit a lot of good shots, so I feel like if we putted good we’d be probably leading this thing. But it was playing tough out there. There were tougher pins and it was blowing a little more on the front, so I’m really pleased.”
Even after the controversy he faced this season, Clark isn’t afraid to speak his mind when the opportunity arises. One of those came after he opened with a 66 on Thursday. Asked what he thought of the chipping conditions around the greens at Albany Golf Club, Clark didn’t hole back.
“Do you want the politically correct answer?” he said. “It’s not in good shape. You’re always chipping into the grain and there’s a lot of chips that are up and over, so you have to chip up, and you’re coming from really bad lies in Bermuda and you have to hit it up and there’s just very little margin for error.”
