Memorial Tournament
A year after his major breakthrough, Wyndham Clark describes 'out of body' experience
Wyndham Clark reacts to winning the 2023 U.S. Open.
Ezra Shaw
DUBLIN, Ohio — Every time he appears in a tournament, Wyndham Clark gets reminded that he won the U.S. Open last year at Los Angeles Country Club. He defends that title next week at Pinehurst No. 2 in Pinehurst, N.C. He’s had a year to get used to the idea that he won the national championship. He’s still getting used to it.
“You know, it’s been pretty awesome. Winning the U.S. Open has given me a chance to do some pretty cool things, some things that I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to do otherwise,” Clark said Wednesday at Muirfield Village Golf Club, where he is preparing to compete in the 49th edition of the Memorial Tournament, a $20 million limited-field signature event. “It’s been an amazing year for me.”
One of those amazing things was playing for the U.S. in the Ryder Cup, an “absolute dream experience,” he said. Another is still a work in progress—getting his mind around owning the title.
“Wherever I go, I hear it, ‘U.S. Open champion.’ I’m not quite used to it, but I am getting there,” he said after playing nine holes in the Memorial pro-am. “Early on, it felt like an out-of-body experience. It was huge. So there’s been an adjustment period. My comfort level with it is pretty good now.”
That is apparent in his results following his one-stroke victory in L.A. over Rory McIlroy. Ranked fourth in the world, Clark couldn’t conjure a top-10 finish the remainder of the season until finishing third at the Tour Championship. The Colorado native has followed up with an uneven 2024 season highlighted by his victory at the weather-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am that included a course-record 60 in the third round. He also registered consecutive runner-up finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship. On the flipside, missed cuts at the Masters and PGA Championship at Valhalla were disappointments.
Missing the cut in a third straight major would not sit well with him, especially when he is the defending champion. That’s why Clark, 30, has been laying low this week at Muirfield Village, keeping his head down as he prepares to compete in the Memorial, where he finished T-12 last year, his final start before winning the Open.
Clark tees off at 10:05 a.m. local time Thursday with two-time Memorial winner Patrick Cantlay.
“I’ve played a lot of good golf this year, but my timing hasn’t always been good,” Clark said. “Pebble Beach was awesome. Had some other chances. Not a lot to be unhappy about.”
Clark visited Pinehurst No. 2 for media day in early May and liked what he saw, despite never having been there previously. “But it was pretty benign then. I’m sure it will be a lot tougher when we get there,” he said. “A lot of it is going to be about the second shots out there, which was a lot like LACC.”
And a lot like this week’s Memorial Tournament, too. Preparation begins in earnest for a guy who will hear all week that he is, indeed, the U.S. Open champion.