Wyndham Clark’s Redemption

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Can’t anybody be redeemed?

Why is it when an athlete loses it and commits an unsportsmanlike or negative action, he risks being marked for life?

Now, I’m not talking about serious offenses that invoke law enforcement and trials in court. I’m talking about a loss of temper that results in damaging equipment and other objects.

This is certainly a strange and unorthodox way of getting to the US Open golf championship held last week at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island. It involves the man who won the championship, going wire-to-wire meaning he was the leader for all four rounds.

His name is Wyndham Clark, who faced many challenges in coming out on top.

Clark won the Open in 2023 before struggling and fading from sight, which happens often for nearly all professional golfers. But Clark didn’t handle it as well as others, or at least not publicly.

He smashed a sponsor’s sign at the PGA championship in 2025, then destroyed a locker at Oakmont at the US Open the same year.

Wyndham Clark obviously had problems and instead of lingering on as golf’s bad boy, he sought help.

He has worked with a mental coach, Julie Elian, for the past three years, and she believed it was time to move on from the locker room incident story.

Initially, Clark apologized, but it appeared too awkward making it appear he wanted to move on too quickly.  So he has been a work, as they say, in progress. You just can’t snap your fingers and say, “I’m fine”.

So here was Wyndham Clark, at 32, one year after his major blowup trying to get back on track.

How did that work out?  Well, he was faced with the basic challenge of the golf course itself, one of the toughest traditionally for the best in the game. To make things even more demanding were the fierce winds that would affect all aspects of the game, especially putting. Then, he was up against history. The possibility that the world’s #1, Scottie Scheffler, would win and become only the seventh player to capture a career grand slam, on his 30th birthday, on Father’s Day no less.

Scheffler had won the Masters, the PGA, and the British Open, simply named, the Open, and primed to embrace the only one to elude him, the US Open. That’s what the fans, who were disappointing in the numbers that showed up, were anticipating.

On top of that, with the championship being held in New York, the boorish fans were loudly vocal in their disapproval of Clark, constantly reminding him of his behavior a year ago.

That’s quite a list of obstacles for any golfer to overcome. But Wyndham Clark handled it all with class and did the things he had to do better than anyone else.

He was the leader after the opening round and stretched his advantage to six shots entering the final 18.  One of the four players trailing by that number was Scheffler, who was paired with Clark for that last round. Clark played the front nine three-over-par and his once “commanding” led was down to one shot. Talk about adversity which the Denver native had been battling the past year, maybe longer, the crowd was openly rooting against him, cheering on errant shots, outwardly hoping they would find the bunkers.

This is where the eventual champion displayed his apparent growth from the depths of the past year. He remained poised and found a way to stay on top. In Saturday’s third round, Clark was brilliant with his putting to save pars. That had been his strength going in, and it was again. But even that talent eluded him and he was in the fight of his life. It was on the 16th hole that Wyndham Clark told the world he was not going to be denied. His drive on the par 5 landed in deep fescue, where his ball virtually disappeared.

He seemed headed for a bogey, which, combined with a possible birdie for Sam Burns, playing ahead, would produce a tie for the lead. But Clark muscled out a shot to the fairway, then landed a shot to the green, setting up a 24-foot birdie putt which he holed to stay in front. He was not out of the woods when he bogeyed 17. One shot lead, one to play.

But Wyndham Clark held on with a par on 18. He had been surrounded by adversity and then was surrounded by love, flooded by family and friends who stormed out to hug him. That included his father Randall, who rarely, if ever came out to see him perform in person. But Randall was a surprise witness to his son’s huge win. His thoughts had to turn to his mother who died of cancer in 2013 and evoked Clark’s anger back then.

Clark was kind to the fans who were against him, and if there were ever a test to his redemption, the week’s events provided them. No one knows if this is the end to an unpleasant time for the champion, but right now, let’s give him credit.

Wyndham Clark redeemed himself at the US Open. Enough said.

Not a good look a year ago

Putting Clark’s strength

Crucial shot on 16 final day

Redemption