SCOTTSDALE – A year ago, Wyndham Clark was the third alternate at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. When he didn’t get into the field, he did what any twentysomething in the Valley of the Sun with the week off would do. On Friday, he came out to the tournament as a spectator and took in the sights of TPC Scottsdale’s infamous par-3 16th hole.
“I had to come see for myself at least once in my life,” he said.
Fast forward a year later and Clark, 26, spent his Friday not just as a contestant in the 132-man WMPO field, but in contention. Clark posted a 2-under 69 for a 36-hole total of 12-under 130 that left him one shot behind second-round leader J.B. Holmes.
Clark torched TPC Scottsdale on Thursday in 10-under 61, and had more than 220 congratulatory texts on his phone after his career-best round on the PGA Tour. On the podcast The Erik Anders Lang Show, Clark recounted that he had shot 60 “multiple times,” including during a member-guest tournament the first time he ever drank on the golf course. He missed a 12-footer for 59.
PHOENIX OPEN: Scores | Tee times, TV info | Updates | Photos
“He’s a power guy with an incredible short game so he can really go low,” said Boyd Summerhays, who has been Clark’s swing coach for the past 15 months.
Indeed, Clark ranked fifth in driving distance (312 yards) and eight in Strokes Gained: Putting (+.640) in 2018-19, which is a deadly combination. So far this season poor putting has plagued him. After three consecutive missed cuts, Clark switched to a PXG Gunboat Gen2 mallet putter and poured in 10 birdies.
During the second round of the Phoenix Open, Clark struggled to follow up his brilliance of the day before. He made a sloppy bogey at the par-5 third hole and was 1 over for the day through his first 12 holes.
“It was kind of a rough start,” Clark said. “I was all over the place, didn’t feel great with my swing.”
When he missed a 9-foot birdie at the 10th hole, he couldn’t contain his frustration.
“I was like, ‘My putter is cold,’ and my caddie, John, reminded me, ‘You’ve only missed two putts inside 10 feet all week,’ ” Clark recounted.
Clark chewed up the final six holes for the second day in a row. He reached the par-5 13th in two and made birdie and closed with circles on the card at the final two holes, including a 13-foot putt at 18 to claim a one-stroke lead over Billy Horschel. Clark has yet to make a bogey on the inward nine.
When asked what he needed to do this weekend to hoist his first trophy on Sunday at a PGA Tour event, Clark said, “My game’s there. I just got to tune it up and tomorrow I just got to go out there and feel free and play good.”
