Tough Scenes
Wyndham Clark's brutal start at the Olympics did NOT go over well with Golf Twitter
Kevin C. Cox
Wyndham Clark's dream of representing his country at the Olympics got off to a tough start on Thursday. Unfortunately, things were made worse by the fact that Wyndham also represents Golf Twitter.
Our beloved online community can be a lot of fun during big events like when Scottie Scheffler got arrested at the PGA Championship. But it can also be a cruel place that turns on players performing poorly. In a hurry.
Such was the case for Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champ who earned his spot on Team USA through the Official World Golf Ranking. But many believed Bryson DeChambeau, the 2024 U.S. Open champ, should go to Paris instead based on current form. And it's hard to argue with the latter based on Clark's opening round. In particular, his first three holes at Le Golf National, where he failed to put his tee shot in play.
Yikes. Not that he's the first American to struggle in Paris as Rory McIlroy alluded to earlier in the week. Clark actually shot even par the rest of the day, but his opening 75 left him 12 shots off the pace set by Hideki Matsuyama on a day filled with low scoring. Only two players in the field of 60 shot worse, and Clark was five shots worse than any of his American teammates. Again, Golf Twitter did NOT go easy on him:
And, yes, there was plenty of Bryson support on there instead:
Ouch. Hey, Wyndham didn't make the rules for qualifying. He earned his spot here. But it's unfortunate that Clark isn't coming in with better form. In the four majors in 2024, Clark finished T-56 in his U.S. Open defense and missed the cut in the other three, including round of 78 and 80 at the Open Championship a couple weeks ago.
Wyndham still has three more rounds to play in Paris, but things don't look too promising. That doesn't mean, however, that Clark still can't enjoy his first Olympics experience. He just might want to stay off Twitter while he's in Paris.
