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Walking down the final fairway at Quail Hollow on Sunday, with victory all but assured, Wyndham Clark made a conscious effort to absorb all the sights and sounds around him. Moments later, the American scored to win the Wells Fargo Championship and his first PGA Tour title.
“You can only win your first tournament once,” Clark reflected, but this was a victory played out in his imagination countless times.
“It's surreal, I've dreamed about this since I was probably six years old,” Clark told reporters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“Since I've been on the PGA Tour, you fantasize about it all the time, and I've done it a few times this year, where I catch myself daydreaming about winning.
“Doing it on this golf course against this competition is better than I could have ever imagined.”
The manner of victory was also dreamlike, as Clark shot 19 under par to seal a four-stroke victory over compatriot Xander Schauffele, ranked 75 places above him at World No. 5. He posted the second-lowest score relative to par in the event's history, trailing only Rory McIlroy's 21-under in 2015, according to the PGA Tour.
McIlroy, in his first start since missing the cut at the Masters, finished 31st in a star-studded field that included six of the world's top 10.
A final-round, three-under-par 68 sealed the 29-year-old's fourth consecutive round in the 60s, a composed closer after a brilliant 63 on Saturday that had given him a two-stroke lead over Schauffele heading into the final round.
After turning professional in 2017, Clark went five years and 133 starts on the PGA Tour without a win. After finishing sixth at the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic in March, the American began to think that perhaps he would never taste victory.
“I know it sounds crazy because I've only been here five years, but I've had a lot of opportunities to get within two or three shots, whether it's on the back nine or starting on a Sunday, and I always seem to fall. short, and not only that, but it seems that I fell back in positions,” Clark admitted.
“There were multiple texts and calls and times where I was so frustrated with the people in my camp that I didn't think I would ever win and I thought, 'Let's stop talking about it,' because I didn't want to think about it. I said maybe that's not in the cards for me.
“So this time, being in that position, I thought, 'Well, we know what not to do.'”
Those lessons were immediately put to the test Sunday, when Clark opened with a bogey and stayed at one over approaching the eighth tee. However, a subsequent birdie, followed by four more in the first six holes of the back nine, took him home.
When he made his final bogey, Clark seemed overcome with emotion. After hugging his caddy and Schauffele, he appeared to be fighting back tears as he waved to the crowd gathered on the 18th.
The win secured Clark the winner's prize of $3.6 million (eclipsing his previous best payday of $485,000) and sealed his ticket to the 151st Open Championship at the Royal Liverpool in July. He also saw his world ranking rise 49 places to 31st place.
He fulfilled a dream that almost never took off. When Clark, 19, was establishing himself as a talented player at Oklahoma State University, his mother died of breast cancer.
Clark lost his “stone” and seriously considered quitting the sport altogether.
“He was playing terribly,” Clark recalled. “Many times, when he would storm off the golf course in qualifying or in tournaments and drive as fast as he could, I didn't know where he was going.
“The pressure of golf and then not having my mom there and someone I could call was really hard for me. Then professionally, I've had multiple moments like that where you just miss a few cuts in a row or you feel like your game is good and you're not getting much out of it and you're just contemplating doing it. [walking away].
“Max Homa has a great quote: 'Every golfer is one shot away from thinking they can win the Masters or one shot away from quitting golf.' It really is a great quote because that's the truth. “I’m glad I stuck it out and I’m here now.”
