THE MODERATOR: Wyndham Clark, 1-under 69. Wyndham, just a few comments on what's working well so far these first two rounds?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Yesterday, I really drove it great, and then I was just really conservative into the greens. These greens are obviously the challenge of this golf course.
Then today I kind of did the same thing. Wasn't as sharp, but the consistency of hitting it to kind of conservative targets really paid off.
THE MODERATOR: Late night and early morning. Just talk about the quick turnaround and how you're feeling.
WYNDHAM CLARK: Yeah, I'm tired. Didn't get to bed until 10:30. Had to wake up at 4:00. So not much sleep.
I'm going to really be looking forward to a nap and watching USA hopefully win a game.
Q. You mentioned that you didn't hit it as well today. I thought you put on a great ball-striking clinic. Missed a couple of putts. Seemed like you could have even gone lower. Do you feel like you could have been lower today?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Yeah. Today and yesterday, yeah. My goal is to try to get to 10 or 11. You know, unfortunately some missed putts, short one on 9, and didn't birdie 7, and unfortunate bogey on 6.
Yeah, I mean, I really felt like I could be in double digits, but you know, the great thing about that is I didn't feel like I had my best, and I still am leading as of right now. Hopefully I can bring my A-game on the weekend.
Q. Wyndham, how did you sort your way through feelings of doubt and frustration when your game wasn't quite where you wanted it to be a year ago?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Well, I kind of looked at it objectively and took a bird's eye view on it and said, okay, I'm not hitting it good off the tee, I'm not putting as good as I was, and I said, all right, we got to attack that.
I got a swing coach that really helped me. I've really progressed as the year has gone on. I wasn't quite putting the scores and the results together, but then as I started putting well and found a putter, then everything started coming together. Then you start really building confidence. I was doing not only that, but then things off the course, as well.
Yeah, all that together kind of just built momentum and we find ourselves here.
Q. Obviously last year there was the incident at Oakmont. You've addressed that and everything. I'm curious about how much you felt like maybe fans' perception has changed of you or people within golf? Has the perception of you changed, or can you feel any of that?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Yeah, I've gotten a lot of grief since last year, rightfully so. The thing that's unfortunate is that's not who I am, what happened last year.
I'm hoping I can win back the fans that I had or some new fans because it was a terrible incident. You know, I really feel like I can show people that I'm fun and outgoing, I'm fierce, competitive, love the game, respect the game, and I just had a bad moment. Hopefully I can win those people back.
Yeah, I definitely feel like I'm in a better place. Hopefully a great weekend and great rest of the year, maybe I'll gain all those fans back.
Q. Same but different. You were very open in '23 about a lot of the work you had to do emotionally to get to the place. Then a lot of the armchair quarterbacks who don't really know you think, since you won the U.S. Open, you've got it all figured out. Given the work you do, do you think that you ever really get it figured out emotionally, not just as a golfer, but as a person?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, probably not. I was on top of the world in my game at least when I won the U.S. Open and then had some good years. Then next thing you know, I'm apologizing for breaking a locker the year later.
I just think with the mental game there's ebbs and flows. If you think of it as climbing Everest, sometimes you go up, sometimes you have to go down to go back up.
I think that's kind of what happens both on the golf course and off the golf course. Right now I'm trending back up, which is nice. So, yeah, I kind of look at it that way.
Q. I just had two quick ones. The first one is you said your goal was to be 10 or 11. Was that coming into today or coming into the last two rounds?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Well, that was coming into today. My goals coming into this week was if I shot even-par, I would hope I had a chance to win. Things changed a little bit with conditions and whatnot, but yeah, 10 was coming into today.
Q. Then just take us through the putt on 18 there.
WYNDHAM CLARK: Yeah, my caddie, he had the right club. I chose the wrong club. I just was worried about spinning it off, so I took too much club, didn't spin back.
The nice thing on that green is everything kind of funnels towards the hole as long as you kind of match the speed a little bit. I hit a good putt, and it was tracking. I almost early called it. I felt like it was center cup, and it barely lipped in.
It was a great way to finish the round. I really didn't putt my best on the green, so it's nice to have that momentum going into tomorrow.
Q. Two kind of unrelated. One is how much can you -- what can you draw from LACC and that experience, even though the courses are completely different, but still a U.S. Open and asking the same questions of the players. Are there things that you can use this week or have been using this week?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Yeah, I mean, I look at that week, or really any week, you sometimes can get ahead of yourself when maybe a couple of bad things happen. I think early in my career, even at that Open, I kind of freaked out. You then get fast, and you make poor decisions and compound errors.
So I would lean on that going, hey, you know what, even though I made mistakes in '23 and didn't have the best, you know, last nine holes, I missed a ton of greens, I can still get up-and-down with my short game, I can still make putts and still win a tournament when maybe you're not hitting greens.
Definitely will lean on that. I'll lean also on Byron Nelson, going out there at CJ Cup and playing good and just keep it going and not -- you know, pedal to the metal.
Q. The other thing is you're a relatively low key guy as we know you out here. The huge jersey thing last week, did you enjoy the chatter that you heard from those last couple of days there from the locals?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Yes, so on Wednesday I got to the 14th hole. I was with my manager and caddie. I'm, like, oh, man, we should have a USA jersey. This would be perfect.
So we looked to try to overnight. It was just too difficult to get it into Canada. It wasn't going to happen. Then on Friday on my 12th hole, I see a guy wearing a Hughes jersey, so I finished my putt, beeline it up to him and ask him if I could buy his jersey to wear it on 14. He was, like, hell, yeah. We met after the round, paid him 200 bucks, got his address. I'm going to send it back to him.
Then, yeah, I was playing pretty decent. I said, all right, I'm just going to do it. I put it on in the tunnel, walked out, got a bunch of grief, which I knew I was going to do. Then fortunately, I followed it up with a birdie. That was awesome.
When I got back there on Sunday, it was great. Like, I loved the banter. It maybe crossed the line on 18. You know, they were yelling in my backswing. I felt more bummed for Bud because Bud was trying to win a tournament, and it seemed like the banter almost took away from his limelight. I was a little bummed about that.
But I brought it on myself, so...
Q. Wyndham, in a nutshell what has Pat Coyner done for your game? Why has it worked so well?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Well, Pat, it's pretty crazy. I've been on my own for three years with my golf swing, and I just got a membership at Cherry Hills. Pat just started working there as an instructor. I didn't really know him. I kind of knew a lot of people -- kind of knew of him.
I was hitting balls one day and just asked him, like, hey, what do you think? He goes, honestly, I mean, I look at a few things that how you're swinging in '23 and '22, and you're way longer, you're kind of cupped, your wrist isn't flat, X, Y, and Z. He goes, if we could just get you back to '23 by the start of January 1, like some of those moves, and then continue to get better as the year goes on, and he's done that.
I mean, I've gained so much control with my irons. Now I think of myself as a good iron player. Now I'm starting to hit driver a lot straighter.
So if I can hit it in the fairway, I feel like I'm pretty deadly.
Q. You mentioned momentum and success building on success at this point. I'm curious, what is going into a weekend like for you now from a mental perspective than maybe it was a year ago when you weren't having this kind of success?
WYNDHAM CLARK: There was definitely a lot of uncertainty last year, even if I played good going into the weekend, just because I didn't really believe I could keep playing good just because I hadn't seen it, versus now regardless of where my game is at, I feel like good things are going to happen, and I can continue to play good.
It's definitely -- you know, momentum is a huge thing in golf, and I feel like I have it right now. Just keep it going. Keep pushing that momentum ball down the hill.
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