Wyndham Clark Says He ‘Gave The PLAYERS Away’ to Scottie Scheffler
March 13, 2025
2,536
Wyndham Clark is back at TPC Sawgrass, the site of one of the most disappointing moments of his playing career. Although a year has passed, the feeling is still fresh in his mind, something he will have to deal with starting Thursday.
Clark is frustrated not only by the loss itself, but by the mistakes he feels he made, especially in the final round. Speaking on the eve of The PLAYERS Championship, he revealed that his famous lip-out putt on the 18th hole was not the worst moment of the day.
“This one [the defeat at The PLAYERS] really hurts,” Clark said. “I just go back to that day specifically on Sunday, I missed a four-footer for eagle on 2, missed a four-footer for par on 10, and I left a 12-, 13-footer for eagle on 16 short dead in the heart.”
“I unfortunately kind of gave that one away. The lip-out obviously was tough, but that’s not really where I felt like I lost it.”
Wyndham Clark of the United States reacts after missing a putt on the 18th green during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass on March 17, 2024 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Wyndham Clark of the United States reacts after missing a putt on the 18th green during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass on March 17, 2024 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
The 2023 U.S. Open champion arrived at TPC Sawgrass having won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and contended for the title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational a week before The PLAYERS. Those are elements that added fuel to the frustration he felt at the time.
“It’s tough because I was playing really good golf,” he said. “I didn’t start the season off great and then boom, I win at Pebble, and then from there I started playing some awesome golf. Bay Hill, 100 percent, tip the cap to Scottie. I played nice golf. He just played better.”
“At that time I felt like I was playing some of the best golf and definitely some of the most consistent golf on the PGA Tour. Then I kind of followed it up with good play at RBC and then the year fell off a little bit.”
Clark began the fourth round of The PLAYERS Championship 2024 in second place, just one stroke behind 54-hole leader Xander Schauffele. But while Scottie Scheffler pulled off a legendary comeback, Clark was only able to hold on to his position.
Scheffler fired an 8-under 64 in the final round to rally from a five-shot deficit at the start of the day and take a sensational 20-under title. Clark, meanwhile, carded five birdies and two bogeys on Sunday to finish in a tie for second place, one stroke behind the winner.
What happened on the 18th hole was one of the most nerve-wracking moments of the season. While Scheffler was on the practice range waiting for the final group to finish, Clark had a 16-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff.
His execution was near perfect, but the ball inexplicably lipped out and landed 10 inches from the hole. It was a real knockout blow to Clark’s title aspirations.
More Golf: LPGA Tournament Sponsors Donating $6.5 Million for LA Wildfire Relief
A legjobb élmény biztosítása érdekében olyan technológiákat használunk, mint a cookie-k az eszközadatok tárolására és/vagy eléréséhez. Ha beleegyezik ezekbe a technológiákba, akkor olyan adatokat dolgozhatunk fel ezen az oldalon, mint a böngészési viselkedés vagy az egyedi azonosítók. A hozzájárulás elmulasztása vagy visszavonása bizonyos funkciókat és funkciókat hátrányosan érinthet.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
