Wyndham Clark: U.S. Ryder Cup team 'unprepared' in Rome

NAPA, Calif. – From hats to jetlag, there were plenty of theories as to why the U.S. got blown out, 16.5-11.5, at the Ryder Cup in Rome last fall.

Wyndham Clark added another at the Procore Championship at Silverado on Wednesday: The Americans were rusty.

“Last year it was realistically four weeks (break after the TOUR Championship),” said Clark, who at world No. 6 is the highest-ranked player in the field this week. “And then by the time you pegged it up to play, it was the fifth week, so it's five weeks. I mean, I would never prepare for a big event where I had five weeks off between one tournament to the next.”

Last year’s TOUR Championship ended Aug. 27, and the Ryder Cup began Sept. 29. There was a fall event in between them, the Procore in Napa, but Clark didn’t play it, giving him a paucity of competitive reps heading into Rome’s Marco Simone.

As a result, he said, he was not game fit in Rome, and he might not have been the only one.

Clark, who will be inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame on Dec. 1, recalled playing in a Friday afternoon Four-Ball (best-ball) match with partner Max Homa and struggling early against Europe’s Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre.

“Through four holes I said (to Homa), ‘Man, I'm sorry,’” Clark said, “because I kind of was not playing good the first four holes. I said, ‘I'm sorry, I'm not tournament sharp right now, I'll get into it.’ Then eventually I started getting more comfortable.

“But for sure,” he added, “I felt like a lot of us weren't prepared.”

Rose/MacIntyre won the last two holes to tie that match, and Clark would go 1-1-1 overall.

The subject of preparation came up because Clark, Homa and the rest of the U.S. Team will take on the Internationals at the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal, Sept. 26-29. And Clark doesn’t want to repeat his mistake of not being fully ready.

“If it's something that I do myself,” he said, “or hopefully Team USA kind of makes it mandatory that everyone does it, I think we should all play before. I know we have such a grueling schedule and we all just played the TOUR Championship, but if we can just do – it's just one more week to play and to keep us sharp so that we can win, I think it's worth it.”