Fresh off a ball-striking tune-up, U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark battled firm new greens and thick rough to post a determined 2-under 68. In this presser he discusses:
• Returning to “old feels” with coach John for sharper iron play
• Swapping the Jailbird for a LAB putter—and sinking more clutch putts
• Why cracking the FedExCup top 50 is priority No. 1 this week
• Mental reset: blocking out Ryder-Cup points and outside noise
Hit 👍 if you’re backing Wyndham’s Playoff run and join the conversation below!
Windom, how’d you kind of characterize the round today? Grinding. Um, you know, this this course with the new greens and with how high the rough is, if you don’t hit the fairway, it’s tough. And I had a little stretch where I missed the fairway by like a yard or two and you have to really grind to make pars. But, um, you know, I made a lot of good putts. But, uh, yeah, I’m really pleased with how I started. You talked yesterday about a conversation with John about like getting back to some old stuff ball striking wise. Like, when was that conversation and then what’s the results of that? Um, I would say kind of around right around the US Open is when we started kind of going back to some old things. And I would say right as Travelers started, we start we really started hitting some some good shots and we really since Travelers had played some nice golf. We just hadn’t put it together for four rounds. Um, you’ve been in the jailbird forever. What did it kind of take to get into the lab or what was the You know, I’ve been trying the lab honestly for four or five years at home. I would mess with it all the time. I played two tournaments with it maybe about four years ago. Um, but it was always the big one and I didn’t personally like the big one and so when they came out the small one, I still always liked it. JJ Spawn and I practiced a lot at Wis Rock and sometimes I would grab his and just hit with it. Um, you know, and then I puted just very average this year and in Detroit, I went to the putting green on Monday and just tried a million different putters and the lab was the best one and we’ve really started to make some nice putts. With where the like where you are in the FedEx Cup and where and how important being inside the top 50 is, has this tournament become even like more important than say sometimes even making it to the tour championship because of what you get if you make it inside the top 50, make it to BMW? Yeah, it’s kind of seemed seemed that way. Um, you know, the goal is always the the tour championship, but yeah, I mean that top 50 sets you up really well for the next year. Um, so yeah, I mean it’s I still want to try to get the tour championship, but you know, making it to next week is obviously the first goal. Windom, I know you just spoke about how the Greens are since they did the renovations. What different approaches did you take this round and, you know, throughout the practice rounds just to get ready uh compared to years in the past here in Memphis? Yeah. So, the it always was really tough to make putts here uh because the grain change. It was so difficult, but the greens were way more receptive and so you could be in the rough anywhere and you could hit a good shot. Now, the greens are really pure, so it’s easier to make putts, but the greens are super firm. And if you hit in the rough, you almost can’t hold the green. So, pretty much if you hit in the rough, you’re looking where’s the best place to get up and down and you need green to work with. So, that’s probably the biggest adjustment. And I feel like today we did a good job with that. when you got into a bad spot, we gave ourselves the opportunity to get up and down. And uh quickly just we’ve been asking everybody, when was the last time that you played where you paid for a round of golf? Uh I paid Trune uh Trune in Arizona about two years ago charged me and I was shocked. Uh but yeah, paid 75 bucks and they said it was a good good discount which I think it is but I was really shocked. But prior to that, yeah, it’s been seven eight years. You talked at the open about just dealing with the expectations after all the success the last two years. What have you maybe kind of learned about dealing with expectations or have you changed a mental approach to deal with them or are you feel like you’re handling them better? Um, yeah. I mean, I think I think a little bit was I I got so focused on score and, you know, making RDER Cup teams and points and Comcast and whatever and outside stuff of all the the sponsorship things and and really what I’ve done is just gotten back to what I do daily on the on the practice area and then when I go out and play, that’s all I’m focusing on and um really not worried about any sort of outcomes. Returning to the recipe that kind of led to that success. Yeah, I mean, not that I would ever leave that. It’s just, you know, it’s not I mean, you know, I know I had a lot of success in 23 and 24, and I wasn’t trying to change or do anything different. You just sometimes get sidetracked and, you know, you think you’re doing those things, but then you realize you’re still focused on certain things. So, yeah. I mean, I’m really trying to just get back into my little tunnel vision and and not really look what’s going on around me. Thanks, man. Good. Nice chest.
