Ahead of the Houston Open, Windham Clark shocked the golf world by announcing he injured his lower back during a workout on Monday. It’s unclear how much it bothers him, but he still appeared to be in pain after Thursday’s round.
Clark looked fine through 12 holes, but his game went downhill as the day progressed.
Clark was 2 under through the first three holes. He dropped a shot on the par-4 sixth hole, but recovered on the eighth. Clark closed in on the leaders at the turn and was within a few strokes of the lead. He was 3 under after 10 holes.
It looked like the former Oregon Ducks would be on the first page of the leaderboard, but that quickly faded.
He looked to move to 4 under with a 7-foot birdie putt on No. 13, but missed. His round fell apart from there.
Clark made three bogeys in his final five holes and finished with an even-par 70. He had a three-putt on No. 14. The reigning U.S. Open champion hit the ball into the water on the 16th, but missed 10 feet to save par.
On the 18th, Clark missed his tee shot wide and was forced into a wild up-and-down. He would miss his 14-foot shot and be content with his one more bogey.
After the grueling round, Clark detailed how his back affected the round.
“I felt like I maximized my speed,” he said. “I definitely felt it all day, but it doesn’t excuse my play. To be honest, I was playing pretty well. — I missed the short putt on the 13th, and I missed the short putt on the 14th. I missed one putt so there was a bit of a lull. Unfortunately I bogeyed the par 5 and 18, but overall it was a good day.”
He will turn things around quickly heading into his second round tee time. Clark is playing early Friday morning with reigning Houston Open champion Tony Finau and Kim Si-woo.
“I’m going to rehab and work on it,” Clark said. “I’m getting better day by day, so I’m hoping that by tomorrow the symptoms will really be gone.”
How much will his back affect him going forward? Will that cause him to miss the cut, or will he dig deep and find a way to bounce back?
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirls and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
