“Garbage,” “Garbage,”Overrated“, “He stinks”, and “Should have been Bryson DeChambeauThose were just some of the criticisms Wyndham Clark received online after a four-over 75 in the opening round of the Olympic Games on Thursday, getting wet early and often.
After his tough start in Paris, he could have given up — after all, only the top three receive prizes — but Clark fought back, shooting 15 under par over the final 54 holes to finish tied for 14th, a far cry from nearly last place on Thursday. Clark also shot consecutive 6-under 65s over the weekend.
Only gold medalist Scottie Scheffler managed a combined score of 15 under par over the final three rounds, so Clark might have been in medal contention if not for a shaky first round.
“I started off badly, missed some putts and everything just seemed to go wrong on the first day,” Clark said after Sunday’s final round.
“Then I played really well on the second day but unfortunately I ended up with a double. But I’ve been feeling really good the last two days. I’ve been playing really good golf. The first nine holes were awful.” [on Thursday]and the 18th hole was bad. [on Friday]things might change a little bit.”
Clarke earned the respect and admiration of many with his strong finish and golf fans who slammed him after Thursday’s round should apologize, but the 2023 U.S. Open champion paid no attention to any of the bullets flying his way.
“I didn’t hear anything about that, but I knew about other stuff and I guess some of it wasn’t really justified because I was the third-highest ranked player on the U.S. national team coming in here. So yeah, it was a bad start,” Clark said.
“This may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch the event, [Olympic] “I want to go to the Village and have the full experience. So I wanted to do everything right. I have no regrets. When I got there on Tuesday, I shut everything down and was ready to go. I played 60 holes of really good golf. I just had nine bad holes.”
Despite the difficulty of the tournament, Clark had an excellent week, finishing as the third-highest ranked American in the tournament at 11 under par, one stroke behind Xander Schauffele, who shared the lead after 54 holes.
“It’s very hard to come in first, second or third in any tournament, and then when that third place is the only place you can actually win money, I think it changes the expectations a little bit because in golf it’s really hard to time everything perfectly every week, especially one week,” Clark said.
“I wanted to enjoy every minute and I felt like I did, so it was a great week for me.”
Though Clark currently sits fifth in the FedExCup standings, it’s no secret he’s struggled considerably throughout 2024. He missed the cut at Augusta National, Valhalla and Royal Troon. The reigning U.S. Open champion finished tied for 56th at Pinehurst in the second round and looked like a different man than he was at Los Angeles Country Club the year before. But Clark has shown signs of success this year, especially at Pebble Beach, where he won the rain-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with a final-round 60. He’s also recorded five top-10 finishes since his February win, including two runner-up finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.
But Clark has been dealing with an injury he sustained in the gym in late March ahead of the Texas Children’s Houston Open, which has undoubtedly contributed to his inconsistency over the past few months, but Clark still deservedly earned himself a spot on the U.S. team.
At the end of U.S. Open qualifying, Clark was ranked fifth in the world and third among Americans, and while he may not have been able to show his true potential in major tournaments, he still had a great 18 months, winning top tournaments at Quail Hollow, LACC and Pebble Beach.
A big reason he was successful in those events, and in some others, was because he got off to a good start.
“I actually struggled a lot at the start and that’s tough to overcome, especially in a major. I started really badly but then on the back nine on Friday I started playing really good golf and I just barely made the cut and there were a couple of guys who missed the cut and I got a backdoor into the top 10,” Clark explained.
“So I started badly and that’s something I really need to work on, to at least get some consistency in my starts. I feel like I can play well this weekend.”
That perfectly summed up Clark’s play last week at Le Golf National.
But the reality of a 72-hole stroke-play event is that while you can’t win a golf tournament on Thursday, you can certainly lose one. Clark lost his opening round on Thursday with a 4-over 75, but he didn’t lose anyone’s respect over the next three rounds. If anything, his valiant efforts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were comparable to Scheffler, the best player in the world, and should have earned him that respect.
So those who criticized Clark after day one owe him an apology.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
