PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. ā If you watched Wyndham Clark win the U.S. Open last June, hadnāt heard much about him before that and pegą¹ged him as a one-and-done, flash-in-the-pan story, you may want to reconsider that thšought.
The 30-year-old Clark is quietly developing into one of theš big-game hunters in golf and, at the š§moment, he has his eyes set on the $4.5 million first-place prize awarded to The Players Championship winner and the career prestige that comes with winning the sportās āfifth major.āā
Clark, who scorched TPC Sawgrass with a 7-under-par 65 in Fridayās second round, will take a fouąµ²r-shot lšead into the final 36 holes at 14-under.
The only players in the afternoon wave of tee times that made a run at Clark were Xandš±er Schauffele, who shot 69, and Nick Taylor, who shot 68. They both trail Clark by four shots.
Matthew Fitzpatrick, tź§he 2022 U.S. Open winner, and Maverick McNealy are both 9-under.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler, Canadian Corey Conners, Matti Schmid, a first-timer here from Germany who double bogeyed his final hšole, No. 18, and Tom Hoge all six shots back at 8-under.
Brian Harman, the defending British Open champion, J.T. Poston, Sahith Theegala and C.T. Pan are all aš·t 7-under.
For Clark, who in February won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, one of the PGA Tourās āelevatedāā events, appears to be following a similar path to Scheffler, whoās been ranked No. 1 in the world for the past 10š² months.
Before 2022, Scheffler had not won a tournament despite trending in contention often. Then he finally broke through and has won seven times sāØince,ā including the 2022 Masters and last yearās Players.
Clark captured his first carź¦«eer victory at last yearās Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow, won the U.S. Open and won again at Pebble. Now heās 36 holesź¦ of more great golf away from a fourth win in less than two years.
When asked what the deal is ašbout his big-tournament success, Clark soundedā± perplexed.
āI just really donāt know what it is,āā he said. āI would like to play great every week. I really looked at how Scottie has been playing this year and last year and I use him as someone to try to keep up wāith, and he plays good every week.
āI have so much respect for Scottie and his game and consistency and he really is kind of the meter right now of where you want to try to be,āā Clark said. āI think the best thing about Scottie is his consistency. Last year ā¦ I was very cošnsistent in making cuts and kind of always being in the top 20 and then I won a few times, but Scottieās always in contention.
āHeās pushed me to be better and itās fun to watch him. So, Iām really trying to catch hš§im. Iš really owe a lot to him to some of my good golf of late.āā
Clark highlighted his day by coming home on his final nine holesšØ _ which was the back nine since he started on No. 10 _ in 6-under-par 30.
āThatās pretty cool,āā he said. āMore than anything, Iām just super-exācited that I kind of had a ho-hum front nine and then turned and really just got into a nice zone and felt really good on the greens and shot an awesome number.āā
Clark seemsź©² to have unlocked himself and his game to win with work heās done with his mental game, bringing sports psychologist Julie Elion onto his team to work with hiš§m. Elion has worked with several golfers, including Phil Mickelson.
āź¦«My mental game was getting a lot better leading into Quail Hollow and I had a lot of good finishes,āā Clark said. āI made 19 cuts in a row and had a chance to win a few times, but I ą“wasnāt putting good.
āWhen I switched to the putter Iāve been using, that Jailbird, I started really seeing a lot of putts go in, and then all the work that I did off the course in my mental game I started seeing it on the course because I started making putts. So, thatās proābably the biggest thing is a combining the mental game with making putts and now Iāve been shooting some good scores.āā
Two more good scores this weekend and Clark will have bagged yet another massive tournament to enhance his šgrošwing reputation as a big-game hunter.
Westchesterās Cam Young, who grew up playing Sleepy Hollow Counź¦try Club, where his fatļ·½her and coach, David, was the head pro for two decades, shot a 3-under 69 on Friday and is 5-under for the tournament.
Young is seeking his firāstź¦” PGA tour victory despite playing so well for the past two years. Young has played 58 tour events and has six runner-up finishes, two third-places, nine top-5s and 4 top-10s.
He has played in nine major championships since he turned pro and has a runner-up, a tie for third, a tie for seventh and a tie for eighth. Young has won more than $13 million on šthe PGA Tour and yet craves that first win more than any other dollar he might earn.