Can Wyndham Clark be stopped at THE PLAYERS?

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Even the most ardent student of architecture would struggle to find similarities between Los Angeles Country Club, Quail Hollow Club and Pebble Beach Golf Links. They only have one thing in common: Wyndham Clark has conquered them all in the past year.

And now, he appears to be on the verge of winning another big prize at a course known for its unique challenges. Clark holds a four-shot lead at THE PLAYERS Championship's halfway point. Shooting back-to-back 65s has given him the second-larged 36-hole lead in this tournament's history, exceeded only by the five-shot lead Webb Simpson held en route to his 2018 win.

It begs the question of whether Clark is golf’s newest “big game hunter,” a player who can be counted on to contend at the most important tournaments and under the toughest conditions. His rapid ascent up the world ranking has been driven by his success in majors and Signature Events, the tournaments created to bring the best players together more often.

Clark was still outside the top 100 in the world ranking this week last year, but now he's No. 5. Such a rapid rise is only possible by having repeated success at the events where the most points are on offer.

Not only did Clark win last year’s U.S. Open, but also he added victories at two Signature Events, the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship and this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. As an added laurel, he closed his victory at Pebble Beach by setting the course record at one of golf’s most historic venues with his final-round 60. Clark also was runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, and now has a big lead at the halfway mark of THE PLAYERS.

“I've always thought I could be where I'm at right now,” Clark said after shooting a 6-under-par 30 on his inward nine Friday morning. “But I was lacking a lot of things in my game and mental stuff.”

A victory here would be the biggest testament to the transformation that Clark has undergone over the past 12 months. Much has been made about his work on his mental game with sports psychologist Julie Elion. It was the focus of an entire episode in the recently released second season of the Netflix documentary, “Full Swing,” and is a topic in almost every interview he does.

TPC Sawgrass doesn’t appear at first glance to be a place where Clark would thrive. His overpowering length doesn’t offer an outsized advantage, with a plethora of penalty areas making wayward tee shots especially costly. It’s why the likes of short-but-straight Tim Clark and Fred Funk have won here. Clark, on the other hand, ranks 11th in Driving Distance (307.4 yards) this season but is 176th in Driving Accuracy (50.4%).

A strong mental game is especially important at TPC Sawgrass, though. It is a course that Pete Dye designed to toy with the emotions of TOUR pros. And it’s a course where Clark wasn’t up to the challenge, at least until this year.

“This golf course has always kind of given me some fits,” Clark said. “But I think it's a course that … you just learn.”

Per usual, he has hit barely half his fairways (16 of 28) but his power has allowed him to still hit greens even from the rough, which is thicker than usual. He has missed just five greens through the first two rounds and is gaining nearly eight strokes on the field with his putter. For the second consecutive week, Clark is succeeding on a course where he used to struggle. He was a combined 26 over par in his three appearances at Bay Hill before last week's runner-up.

This is Clark’s fifth PLAYERS appearance. He was disqualified in his 2019 debut and missed the cut in each of the next two, shooting 13 over par in those four rounds. A T27 last year was a step in the right direction, and not just because he finally broke par at TPC Sawgrass. Poor putting didn’t allow him to capitalize on his strong ball-striking, and he switched shortly after last year’s PLAYERS to the Jailbird putter that he's used in all three of his PGA TOUR victories.

Brian Harman, who played alongside Clark in the first two rounds this week, sees a player with a more refined approach and, perhaps most importantly, a hot putter.

“He has dialed back his long game a little bit,” said Harman, who also shot a second-round 65 and is seven shots back going into the weekend. “He’s just playing a little bit more of a predictable shot, so he’s in play two more holes a day than he normally would be, and that’s what he’s doing great.

“And I don’t think anyone is putting as well as Wyndham is right now,” added Harman, who like Clark won his first major and made his Ryder Cup debut for the U.S. in Rome last fall. “You get a guy who can hit it far and shapes it nicely and putts it good, and it’s a problem.”

Count Clark among the many who marvel at Scheffler’s consistency, but a case can be made that Clark actually is the most successful player over the past 12 months. Scheffler was winless between victories at last year’s PLAYERS Championship and last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. Clark has won three times in that span.

“Scottie's always in contention,” Clark said. “He's pushed me to be better and it's fun to watch him, and so I'm really trying to catch him. I really owe a lot to him to some of my good golf of late.”

Now, they could be set for a weekend showdown. Scheffler was hampered by a neck injury Friday but still managed a 3-under 69 that leaves him six back of Clark, but also in the top 10. A star-studded leaderboard is taking shape at TPC Sawgrass, with Xander Schauffele and Nick Taylor tied for second, Matt Fitzpatrick in fourth and the likes of McIlroy and Scheffler still in contention.

Wyndham Clark could leave here the biggest of them all.