Denver’s Wyndham Clark brings ‘sky high’ confidence into Open Championship | Golf Insider
Wyndham Clark’s name has been a fixture on leader boards lately.
The Denver native has won twice this season, including the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills and moved back into the top 10 in the World Golf Rankings.
So, he has loads of confidence going into the final major of the year — The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, which starts Thursday.
“It’s definitely sky high right now,” Clark said about his confidence at a Monday press conference. “I was happy that I could play last week, kind of get over here, get acclimated, get used to some links golf, the speed of the greens, the wind, etc. I’m feeling good coming in.”
Clark has been red-hot during the last two months. On top of the two wins, he has not finished lower than 13th in a tournament since mid-May. The Valor Christian graduate finished in a tie for 13th at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open and was in the mix for most of the tournament.
But what changed for Clark this summer? He said it turned around for him at the PGA Championship, where he missed the cut.
“I would have to say probably the PGA. I missed the cut,” he said. “But I had a ton of belief in my game. The week prior, I was shooting some really good scores at home and I really thought I was going to have a great chance to win at the PGA. I drove it terribly, but everything else in my game felt good. I went to practice in Dallas, and then I went on to win the CJ Cup. So I feel like that was a huge turning point in the year.”
The 32-year-old had not had a lot of success at the Open Championship before last year at Royal Portrush. He had a bad first round but rallied and finished in a tie for fourth. His previous three starts in the Open were a missed cut, tie for 33rd and tie for 76th.
Clark’s mental approach has been well documented, and he feels very good going into the first round of the tournament mentally and physically.
“I think people don’t talk enough about what’s going on off the course and equate that to what’s going on the course,” Clark said. “I think it’s very difficult to have off-course issues and play really good golf.
“I think last year I had a lot of off-course issues that were bleeding into the golf and led to some poor golf indecisions. Right now I’m very pleased with my life off the course. It’s very simple.”
Clark tees off at 8:04 a.m. Thursday with Cameron Young and Ludvig Aberg. His second round begins at 2:58 a.m. Friday.
Top storylines
Will Scottie Scheffler be shut out in majors? The No. 1 player in the world has only one win this year, and it was at The American Express back in February. He has been close but not finishing his chances to win. The defending champ not winning a major this year would be strange.
Rory McIlroy looking for second 2026 major. McIlroy was in contention at the Genesis Scottish Open last week even as he declared he is “so bad at golf” in a viral clip Sunday. He has not won an Open Championship since 2014. He’s always a story.
Royal Birkdale is firm and fast. It has been unseasonably warm in England and the course shows it. Players have discussed massive rollouts on shots and how fast the course is playing. There will be plenty of strategy to avoid rolling into bunkers and long rough all week.
Could an Englishman win in his country? Two of the favorites going into Thursday are Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood. The last time an Englishman won on home soil was Tony Jacklin in 1969 at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
What is Bryson DeChambeau doing? He has missed the cut in all three majors this year and would become the first multiple major champion to miss all four major cuts in the same year before turning 40 if he missed this week.
Must-see tee times
2:58 a.m. / 8:04 a.m.: Tyrrell Hatton, Scheffler, DeChambeau: A strange group for Scheffler, who must play with the volatile Hatton and the mysterious DeChambeau.
3:09 a.m. / 8:15 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Fleetwood: Spieth won the title in 2017 when the tournament was last played at Royal Birkdale. Fleetwood will be the fan favorite while Rahm looks for his first major since the 2023 Masters.
8:15 a.m. / 3:09 a.m.: McIlroy, Schauffele, Fitzpatrick: Major winners and three of the favorites for the tournament. A star-studded group that could feature the eventual champion.
7:53 a.m. / 2:47 a.m.: Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka: Another group full of major winners, but this one has question marks. Is Koepka’s wrist OK? Was Rai just a flash at the PGA? Can Lowry compete for another major?
2:36 a.m. / 7:42 a.m.: Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland: Rose made his pro debut at Royal Birkdale in 1998 and is still in the mix at majors. Henley and Hovland have signature wins but are in search of their first majors.
And the winner is …
The list of winners at Royal Birkdale is a who’s who in golf. Arnold Palmer, Peter Thomson (twice), Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Ian Baker-Finch, Mark O’Meara, Padraig Harrington and Spieth won the Claret Jug in Southport. A previous major winner seems to be the correct pick, so Collin Morikawa is going to win this weekend. He already has an Open Championship. It is his time to take home another major.
What they’re saying
“(Birkdale is) where my love for The Open started. It’s probably my biggest dream in the game is to win that tournament.”
—Fleetwood on playing The Open in his home country
Skins game
Odds to win Open Championship
Scottie Scheffler +750
Rory McIlroy +950
Tommy Fleetwood +1500
Matt Fitzpatrick +1500
Jon Rahm +2000
Xander Schauffele +2500
Robert MacIntyre +2700
Viktor Hovland +3000
Wyndham Clark +3500
This week in golf
The Royal & Ancient
Open Championship
Site: Southport, England.
Course: Royal Birkdale. Yardage: 7,223. Par: 70.
Prize money: TBA ($17 million in 2025). Winner’s share: TBA ($3.1 million in 2025).
Television: Thursday-Friday, 11:30 p.m. (Wednesday)-2 a.m. (Peacock), 2 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (USA Network); Saturday, 3-5 a.m (USA Network), 5 a.m.-1 p.m. (NBC); Sunday, 2-5 a.m. (USA Network), 5 a.m.-Noon (NBC).
Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler.
PGA Tour
Corales Puntacana Championship
Site: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Course: Puntacana Resort (Corales). Yardage: 7,670. Par: 72.
Prize money: $4 million. Winner’s share: $720,000.
Television: Thursday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (Golf); Sunday, 2-4 p.m. (Golf).
Defending champion: Garrick Higgo.
World Golf Rankings
- Scottie Scheffler 16.00
- Rory McIlroy 9.36
- Matt Fitzpatrick 7.28
- Cameron Young 7.07
- Russell Henley 5.54
- Chris Gotterup 5.46
- Collin Morikawa 5.31
- Wyndham Clark 5.28
- Tommy Fleetwood 5.19
- Justin Rose 5.15
- Jon Rahm 4.84
- Viktor Hovland 4.78
- J.J. Spaun 4.74
- Xander Schauffele 4.49
- Robert MacIntyre 4.35
- Ben Griffin 4.29
- Aaron Rai 4.28
- Sam Burns 4.27
- Justin Thomas 4.21
- Ludvig Aberg 4.14
- Si Woo Kim 3.96
- Tyrrell Hatton 3.90
- Sepp Straka 3.65
- Min Woo Lee 3.49
- Alex Noren 3.46