Denver native Wyndham Clark returns to where it all began

It was a promise that Randall Clark never imagined he’d need to fulfill.

A former professional tennis player, Randall didn’t want his son to get sucked down the vortex of video games. But, like most kids his age, Wyndham Clark badly wanted a PlayStation. As a compromise, Randall made a pledge during one of the family’s summer vacations to the Colorado mountains. He intentionally made the terms nearly impossible to fulfill.

Wyndham, then 6 years old, could get the console if he made an eagle. He’d never scored better than a par before.

That changed when Wyndham stepped to the 12th tee at Keystone Ranch, which played 125 yards from his tees. Wyndham grabbed his driver, struck the shot and watched it roll into the hole.

Both father and son began celebrating, but for very different reasons.

“I celebrated because I realized I won a PlayStation and my dad was celebrating because it was a hole-in-one,” Wyndham said. “Then he realized, Oh no, now I have to get my son a PlayStation. I have to be a man of my word.”

It was the first of many trophies Clark collected throughout Colorado. This week, he returns for the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock.

It will be Clark’s first PGA TOUR start in his home state, and the timing couldn’t be much better. In the past 15 months, he’s become a major champion, won three PGA TOUR titles and represented the U.S. in the Paris Olympics. He’s sixth in the FedExCup and fifth in the Official World Golf Ranking, meaning the hometown favorite also will be one of the tournament’s favorites.

Clark’s rise has corresponded with his focus on his mental health and his work with sports psychologist Julie Elion. Channeling his fiery intensity has helped him capitalize on the potential he’s displayed since he was a high school kid in suburban Denver, winning tournaments by incredible margins while displaying a poise and polish that set him apart.

“Everybody knew about him,” said former PGA TOUR player Jim Knous. “He was a phenom.”

Knous, four years older than Clark, shot 60 in the final round of the 2010 state amateur, but that was only enough to force a playoff with Clark, who won with a 30-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole. Clark, 16, was the tournament’s youngest winner in nearly 40 years.

A year earlier, Clark won the state junior by 11, leading one of the runners-up to quip, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned pro before he got out of high school.”

“I hope to be the best, that’s my goal,” said Clark, whose second-round 65 was the low round of the tournament by three shots and gave him a six-shot lead entering the final round. He extended the lead to nine after hitting a 220-yard 4-iron to a foot to eagle the fourth hole of the final round and finished at 8 under. His nearest competitors were 3-over par.

Clark also won two state high school championships in Colorado (and finished second in the other two). He shot 64-64 in his senior year to win by eight. One of his high school teammates, Michael Schoolcraft, said Clark's dominance in Colorado was Tiger-esque.

"When he was playing junior or high school tournaments, it was like, 'Wyndham's won. We're just playing for second,'" Schoolcraft said. "It was over."

Clark says he always intended to go to college – he attended Oklahoma State before transferring to Oregon – but those who watched him saw a player who looked more like a pro than his peers.

“He carried himself as a professional. He treated it as a job, one that he loved to do,” said his high school coach, Jason Preeo. “There was just an intensity and a focus on continuing to want to get better and not necessarily being satisfied.”

Preeo played professional golf and coached his alma mater, the University of the Pacific, before coaching Clark for his final three years at Valor Christian High School. Preeo said he’s never had a player who was more inquisitive, constantly asking questions in his quest to improve.

And although Preeo made the cut in the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach after Clark’s sophomore year of high school, the coach didn’t hesitate to admit that Clark already was better than him.

“There was no question in my mind,” Preeo said.

Clark never shot over par in a high school match during his three seasons playing for Preeo.

“That’s the stat that everybody’s like, ‘Holy cow,’” Preeo said.

With his win last year at Los Angeles Country Club, Clark joined Hale Irwin and Steve Jones as U.S. Open champions from Colorado. The player he was most often compared to in high school, however, was Bob Byman.

Byman’s win in the 1972 U.S. Junior came in the midst of three straight wins in the Colorado Stroke Play (1971-73), and he went on to play on NCAA title-winning teams at Wake Forest and then the PGA TOUR, where he won the 1979 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. When Clark won the 2010 Colorado Stroke Play, he was the youngest winner since Byman in 1971.

George Hoos coached Byman in high school, and watched Clark win his final high school state championship. Hoos described Clark as “a better physical specimen.”

“He’s flat good,” Hoos said.

Roy Edwards, the longtime coach at the University of Colorado, first saw Clark compete when the burgeoning superstar was around 12 years old.

“I distinctly remember the swagger and conviction,” Edwards said. “At that age, it was clear he wasn’t scared of anyone or anything. … As good as his physical game was, it was apparent his real gift as a player was his confidence and his determination to win.”

Mike McGraw, who recruited Clark to Oklahoma State, described Clark’s intensity as “off the charts.” It sometimes expressed itself as the temper that Clark later learned to tame.

“It was obvious to me that he cared a great deal about being great,” McGraw said.

During Colorado’s long summer days, Clark would spend 12 hours at the course. He’d get on his bike if a ride wasn’t available. The trip took about 20 minutes, slightly longer if he had his clubs on his back. He’d take the back roads on those days to avoid being seen. Members at Cherry Hills Country Club, the venue for Arnold Palmer’s 1960 U.S. Open win, recall seeing Clark on the putting green when they teed off and still there when they made the turn.

“If he was practicing his irons, he wasn’t going to quit until everything was perfect,” said Schoolcraft, who went on to play at Oklahoma before competing on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR Americas. “Same with putting, same with every aspect of the game. He was the strongest perfectionist.

“The thing that stands out was his passion, dedication and motivation for the sport,” he added, “and how he kind of knew that he was going to be good, there was no question about it. I’ve known him since he was probably 10 or 11 years old, and it’s kind of been that way ever since.”

Clark has been proven correct. Now he returns to Colorado, having fulfilled the potential he displayed all those years ago.