Clark finds form in time for 'home' game
U.S. Open champ eager for Colorado return; what's next for LIV? Pickleball dinks on marquee matchup
Wyndham Clark got back to his process at the Olympics and now hits “home” in stride (Ben Jared/PGA Tour/IGF)
For long-time PGA Tour followers, it might be hard to believe that it’s been 18 years since a tournament was last played at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado.
Home to The International tournament for 21 years, the event had a unique format that utilized a modified Stableford scoring format. It’s the tournament where Rich Beem held off a furious rally before beating Tiger Woods a week later at the 2002 PGA Championship. And it’s the event where Woods made the last of his three holes-in-one on the PGA Tour.
Yep, Tiger made three aces, but none since 1998, which is one of those statistical oddities of interest.
The International also ceased after 2006 and the Denver area only now sees sporadic big-time golf, with the BMW Championship setting up shop there this week.
And it’s something that Wyndham Clark has long been excited about. The Colorado native gets a “home” game this week, and while the course is not one he plays frequently, he undoubtedly has more experience on it than anyone the 50-player field.
Clark, 30, who grew up in the Denver area, has never played a professional event in his home state where he dominated as a junior and amateur player.
“It’s amazing. I wish we played here every year, to be honest,” Clark said. “This tournament hasn’t been (to Colorado) in 10 years, and then at Castle Pines, almost 20 years. I grew up coming to this place and always dreamt of playing (The International). When they stopped playing here, it was kind of a stab to the heart for me because it was so fun coming out and watching it.
“To be back here playing in front of my home crowd is pretty special.”
Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, was referring to the BMW Championship, which was last played in Colorado in 2014 at Cherry Hills, site of last year’s U.S. Amateur (won by Nick Dunlap, who is in the field this week), as well as Arnold Palmer’s 1960 U.S. Open victory.
Billy Horschel won the BMW at Cherry Hills 10 years ago, then followed up with a victory at the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup title. Horschel is also back this week.
“My first tournament I ever attended was this event,” Clark said of The International. “I think I was 7 or 8 years old. I remember being on the ninth green watching guys like David Duval and Retief Goosen and Ernie Els and David Toms come up the fairways and just visualizing and imagining myself being here one day. And it’s kind of crazy, fast forward 20-some years and I’m here. It’s pretty amazing. I’m excited to be back.”
Before getting here, Clark was something of a local phenom. He won the Colorado State Amateur in 2010 at age 16, a year after having won the State Junior by 11 strokes.
He twice won state high school championships in Colorado, finishing runner-up the other two years. After a year at Oklahoma State, Clark transferred to Oregon.
When Clark won the U.S. Open last year at Los Angeles Country Club, he joined Hale Irwin and Steve Jones as U.S. Open champions from the state of Colorado.
“The last time I played a competitive event of some magnitude was the Pac-12 championship at Boulder Country Club, and that was eight, nine years ago,” he said. “It’s amazing to be back here, and I’m just excited to see friends and family that I don’t get to see that often, get to play in front of people that have watched me my whole life, and it's kind of come full circle of teachers, golf coaches, trainers, friends that have kind of been through this whole thing with me from a young age, and now we’re here playing at the highest level at a course that I’ve played quite a bit growing up, so it’s pretty neat.”
Clark has had a bit of an odd year, better than it has looked at times because his season has been overshadowed by missing the cut in three major championships.
But he won at Pebble Beach earlier this year, finished second in consecutive weeks to Scottie Scheffler at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship and has had four other top-10 finishes, including a tie for seventh last week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Despite some of his struggles, Clark remains No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking and he heads into the BMW Championship at sixth in FedEx Cup points.
“I’ve gone back to a little bit more of a process,” Clark said. “I think I was getting a little too outcome focused. As I had some early success in the year and was playing amazing golf, I think I just got — just falling short of Scottie a couple times and then you’re thinking, okay … I just got too much into winning and trying to break through and win in some of those big events.
“Then I got away from everything that made me successful, and I feel like recently kind of in the last, probably four weeks, I’ve gotten back to the process of focusing on the things that got me here, playing good golf, and I’ve started to play good golf.
“I’ve had some poor rounds to start, but I feel like I’m overcoming that and doing a lot better. So I think my game is trending in the right direction.”