The rise of Wyndham Clark

In a city that’s churned out countless underdog stories on the big screen, Wyndham Clark gave golf fans one to remember last week at Los Angeles Country Club.

Clark’s breakthrough win at the Wells Fargo Championship last month was eye-opening, not just because of what he did, but how he did it. After losing the lead early in the final round to Xander Schauffele, Clark made five birdies in an eight-hole stretch to wrestle control of the tournament. It was a harbinger of what was to come in Los Angeles: Clark fighting through the difficult back nine at LACC, holding off a cast of the game’s stars down the stretch.

How did Clark put himself in position to push his career to new heights? Dramatic improvements in some crucial aspects of his game are blooming into a fantastic season.

Enormous strides with approach play

The biggest difference in Clark’s game this season compared to his first few years on the PGA TOUR is a dramatic uptick in his approach play. In both 2021 and 2022, Clark ranked among the bottom of all qualified players in Strokes Gained: Approach per round. No matter where you look at Clark’s proximity numbers from 100 to 200 yards away last season, he was ceding significant strokes to the competition. In 2022, only 20 qualified players on TOUR lost more strokes per round to the field with their approach play than Clark did.

That has been completely flipped upside down this season. The U.S. Open champion is up to 16th in that statistic in ’22-23, better than the likes of Hideki Matsuyama, Viktor Hovland and Corey Conners. Clark has gained strokes with his approach shots in 11 of his last 12 PGA TOUR starts. He only did that in 38% of the tournaments he played in in 2021-22.

Maybe the biggest improvement for Clark within that set of approach shots has come from the 100 to 125 yard range. A season ago, Clark was averaging 22 feet, 9 inches from the hole on shots from the fairway from that distance – nearly three feet further away than the TOUR mean. The opposite is true in 2023, as Clark is beating the field by three feet on average this season. The improvement has Clark ranked inside the top-15 on the PGA TOUR in proximity from the fairway from 100 to 125 yards, an inconceivable stat a year ago at this time.

One look at the season leaders in Strokes Gained: Approach and even a casual fan can see how significant that statistic is at the game’s highest level. Scottie Scheffler leads the TOUR in that metric this season. Jon Rahm is ranked third. The list of the best approach players reads a lot like the top of the FedExCup standings – and Clark is getting near the top of both.

Stellar short game

Clark’s performance around the greens have always been very solid: in each one of his full seasons on TOUR, he’s averaged positive Strokes Gained: Around the Green per round. When Clark’s steady approach play got a little wobbly on the tough closing nine at LACC (he missed four of his last eight greens in regulation), he was able to rely on his scrambling ability to seal his first career major victory.

Clark gained nearly half-a-stroke on the field with his shots around the green on the back nine Sunday. For the week, 23% of his Strokes Gained: Total came on those types of shots, an unconventional figure for recent U.S. Open winners. From 2017 through 2022, Strokes Gained: Around the Green accounted for just 13% of the Strokes Gained: Total for U.S. Open champions.

For the season, Clark is inside the top-50 in scrambling percentage, sand save rate and Strokes Gained: Around the Green. Those numbers are helpful in explaining Clark’s vastly improved ability to avoid bogeys. Two seasons ago, Clark ranked 102nd on the PGA TOUR in bogey avoidance. Now? He’s 12th – and ranked fourth in the field in his win at LACC, dropping just 11 shots for the week on his way to victory.
In less than nine months, Clark has vaulted himself from outside the top-200 of the Official World Golf Ranking to squarely inside the top-20. His hard work now will help him make two trips to Georgia he’s never experienced: playing in the TOUR Championship this year, and the Masters in 2024.

Clark’s underlying numbers aren’t that of a one-hit wonder. They speak to a player with the potential to stick around the top of the game for a long time to come.