Wyndham Clark fired in a solid opening round of six under par at the Rocket Classic but he’s having none of it when it comes to taking inspiration from US Open winner, J.J. Spaun.
Clark has been in the news for his locker room antics in recent weeks but his focus is now back on golf at the Rocket Classic, an event that offers a lot of players the chance to win with so many big names not involved.
For Clark, without a win on the PGA Tour since the 2024 AT&T at Pebble Beach, it’s a golden chance to get back into the winner’s circle.
The American is among a number of players hoping to make a push at the US Ryder Cup team and as part of that quest, he’s made a big change to his bag.
Clark has added a new putter to his bag at the Rocket Classic and so far, has reaped the rewards.
However, explaining that change, Clark revealed it’s something he’s been working on for years.
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty ImagesWyndham Clark explains his putter change with subtle dig at J.J. Spaun
Golfers are always looking to change things if they feel their game isn’t where they need it to be and a change of putter is a common change.
Indeed, Scottie Scheffler did the same a few years back and hasn’t looked back since.
For Wyndham Clark, though, he feels this is something he’s worked on for years and not simply copied others with.
“Yeah, I’ve tinkered with the LAB for I guess three or four years now, mainly at home. I’ve used it in a couple tournaments maybe three years ago, four years ago,” Clark said.
“Long story short is I just haven’t been making a lot of putts from 8 to 20 to feet. You know,
like last week I felt like I played great but didn’t hole any putts and that kind of kept me from
having a top-10 or top-5 finish or even winning the tournament.
“So I thought if there’s something that could maybe help me make those putts, I want to try it. So I came here on Monday, tried a million different putters and kind of settled on the LAB, and we said all right, we’re going to go with it.
Asked if he’d taken inspiration from recent US Open winner J.J. Spaun’s use of the club, Clark actually suggested he was first to it.
“No, no, not — zero. J.J. got inspiration from me, I used it before he did. No, no, it’s just coincidence, but it is a great putter, I’ve always loved it. It’s easy to stroke. Yeah, hopefully it stays hot and we keep it in the bag.”
Wyndham Clark’s putting stats in 2025
Putting is so, so important on the PGA Tour and can often be the difference between winning an event and coming nowhere near.
For Wyndham Clark, the stats show a change of sorts was needed.
Put bluntly, he is distinctly average across all putting metrics in 2025.
Clark is 64th for strokes gained putting, 92nd in average distance of putts made and down in 74th for putts per round.
He is 37th in both one putt percentage and total putting but overall, the trend is a worrying one for Clark.
Quite how the change to the LAB putter impacts his game, remains to be seen. But for now, it’s clear why he made such a change.
