SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The smashed-up locker at Oakmont last year is as much a part of Wyndham Clark’s resume as the U.S. Open title he won two years before that.
Such is life in a world teeming with cell phone cameras and viral video. Such is life in professional golf, a sport built on managing failure and harnessing emotions — and where success one week, or one year, doesn’t always carry over to the next.
Clark’s spot at the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard after his second round at Shinnecock on Friday brought up expected reminders of his emotion-filled journey through a sport — a life, really — that Clark himself acknowledged nobody truly conquers.
“I was on top of the world in my game, at least when I won the U.S. Open, and then had some good years,” the 32-year-old said. “Then, next thing you know, I’m apologizing for breaking a locker.”
Much as tennis great John McEnroe will always have “You cannot be serious!” alongside the seven grand slam singles titles he won in another of sports’ biggest pressure cookers, Clark will always have the broken locker at Oakmont. He will always have the underhanded fling of the driver that smashed an advertising board and snapped off the clubhead at the PGA Championship, a few months before the locker debacle.
Because of that, he’ll probably also always have his share of detractors and critics — people watching for some brilliance on the golf course, but also waiting for the next big blowup.
“I’m fierce, competitive, love the game, respect the game, and I just had a bad moment,” Clark said. “Hopefully I can win those people back.”
His breakthrough three years ago at LA Country Club was tinged with tears and stories of the personal growth Clark had to make to reach that point.
Much of it had to do with the emotional residue left from his mom’s death in 2013 — a family tragedy that he conceded had left him spiraling.
“I didn’t show any emotion off the course,” Clark explained after his victory that day. “But when I was on the golf course, I couldn’t have been angrier.”
The easy way for the armchair psychologists (and sports pundits) to explain things after that win was to conclude that Clark’s victory proved he had harnessed the emotion, turned the page and beaten back all the demons.
It’s never that simple.
“For any of us, this is a process,” Clark’s sports psychologist, Julie Elion, wrote in her new book ’Mastering Your Mental Game.” “Golfers don’t reach the top and then stay there forever.”
Clark followed the U.S. Open win with 18 months of good golf, including a win at Pebble Beach. Last year was something different — he only had two top-10 finishes, did not make the FedEx Cup playoffs and was nowhere to be seen at the Ryder Cup.
“Mastering our mental game in golf or reaching a state of growth or self-improvement in life isn’t always a permanent condition,” Elion wrote. “It takes more work over more years, and there are frequently hills and valleys.”
At Shinnecock, Clark held a four-shot lead after his second round. Heading into the weekend, he finds himself back on the rise again. He recently took to social media to tell the world he had a new girlfriend, Emily Tanner, who held hands with him as they exited the 18th green after Friday’s round of 1-under 69.
Four weeks ago, Clark won the Byron Nelson for his first victory in 28 months.
“I kind of looked at it objectively and took a bird’s-eye view on it and said, ‘OK, I’m not hitting it good off the tee, I’m not putting as good as I was,’” he explained about his turnaround. “And I said, ‘All right, I’ve got to attack that.’”
He hired a swing coach, Pat Coyner at Cherry Hills, near where Clark grew up outside of Denver.
He’s been hitting his driver straighter of late. His iron game has improved dramatically (up 110 spots in the analytic-driven stat: strokes gained on approach shots). He found a new putter, which has helped him dial in dramatically over the past four weeks, during which he also finished third at the Memorial and played in the final group last Sunday at the Canadian Open.
Never more did it look in sync than Friday on No. 18, where he sank a 33-footer to finish the day in red numbers.
Now, a chance for another breakthrough at the U.S. Open. With a win, he would celebrate again. But he knows as well as anyone that it wouldn’t mean all the problems — or the work, both on and off the course — are behind him.
“I just think with the mental game there’s ebbs and flows,” Clark said. “If you think of it as climbing Everest, sometimes you go up, sometimes you have to go down to go back up. I think that’s kind of what happens both on the golf course and off the golf course. Right now I’m trending back up, which is nice.”
