Curtis Luck sits two shots back at Desert Classic

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Wyndham Clark zoomed to the top of the leaderboard midway through his third round at The Honda Classic. Here are a few things you should know about the PGA TOUR rookie who currently resides in Las Vegas. His mom took him to the driving range for the first time when Wyndham was just 3 years old. “I hit a bucket of balls and asked to hit another bucket,â€� Wyndham recalled. Lisa Clark remembered an elderly gentleman golfer asking how long her son had been playing the game. She said, “30 minutes,â€� to which the man replied, “Don’t change his swing.â€�   At 6 years old, young Wyndham made his first hole-in-one. “Hit driver from 125 and made it,â€� Clark said. “I actually got on the front page of the Denver Post. I have that framed. So, I remember that as well.â€� Clark attended Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and become close friends with classmate Christian McCaffrey, the star running back for the Carolina Panthers.   After graduating from high school, he initially went to Oklahoma State to play golf (and through that connection, became friends with Rickie Fowler). During Clark’s freshman year, his mother’s breast cancer, which had been first diagnosed in 1997, returned. She died in August of 2013. Wyndham wants to honor his mom’s memory – he calls it “Play Bigâ€� — and hopes to start a breast cancer foundation.   “She’s a lot of the reason why I play today,â€� Clark once told the school newspaper at Oregon. “She was there when I played bad, and there to console me and make me feel better. When I played great she was there to hug me and be super excited for me. She was a huge part of my upbringing.â€�   After his mother’s death, Clark contemplated quitting the game. “It just wasn’t as much of a priority for me after she passed,â€� he said. “It got to where it was really hard and just not enjoyable. But I know that she wouldn’t want me to do that. … She’s really helped me get through a lot of tough things since she’s passed. I want to honor her and honor what she wanted me to do and try to make her proud.â€�   Ten days after his mother’s death, Clark competed in the U.S. Amateur, finishing ninth. Oklahoma State head coach Alan Bratton was his caddie.   Clark transferred to Oregon for a change of scenery and enjoyed playing for coach Casey Martin. He was Pac-12 Player of the Year for the Ducks team, with three individual tournament wins and 10 top-10 finishes in 11 starts. He shot 69 or better in 18 of 28 rounds that season, including all three rounds of the Pac-12 Championship, which he won. He was also named GolfWeek Player of the Year, was a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award and was a semifinalist for the Division I Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year award.   The Ducks also won the NCAA Championship in 2017. “I’ve never won a championship that big. Not only did I do it individually, but we did it as a team, which was awesome. It was really fun to share, and we all had a blast doing it,â€� Clark said.   Clark also graduated with a business degree. “It took me five years,â€� he said. “I’m a good student, but I didn’t put 100 percent effort into it. When I did graduate, it definitely felt like I accomplished something. It’s nice to have my piece of paper, my degree.â€�   After a T-23 finish at the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament – which included a hole-in-one during competition — Clark guaranteed himself eight starts to begin the 2018 Web.com Tour season. He parlayed that into full status, and eventually made 24 starts, with four top-10 finishes. He finished 16th on the regular season money list to secure his PGA TOUR card for the 2018-19 season.   In his first 10 starts this season, his best result is a T-10 at last week’s Puerto Rico Open. Because of that top-10 result, he earned a spot in the field this week at PGA National. He entered this week ranked 13th on TOUR in birdie average (4.66 per round).   He currently lives in Las Vegas, and practices with fellow residents Scott Piercy and Ryan Moore, who have given him advice on being a TOUR pro, as well as insight into the courses on TOUR.   Asked once if it was an advantage or disadvantage growing up in Colorado as a golfer, Clark replied (to CHSAA.org): “I think it’s a disadvantage, personally. Because you don’t ever really play at altitude at any of these events. The most you play at is maybe 1,000 feet. I think growing up in Colorado, not only are you playing different distances, but the ball actually spins less and is affected by the air less. So the ball goes straighter and doesn’t go offline as much. When you go play in Florida or other places where the air is thick, your misses are exaggerated a lot more. I think that’s definitely a disadvantage.â€� So far, Florida seems to be working out quite nicely for Clark.

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Although it’s never hosted a sanctioned event for professionals, Erin Hills Golf Course isn’t entirely foreign land to the field of 156 at the U.S. Open. Eighteen entrants competed in the 2011 U.S. Amateur. Half advanced to match play, including Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Russell Henley, Harris English and Peter Uihlein. Among those who failed to advance, Brooks Koepka, Emiliano Grillo and PGA TOUR rookie C.T. Pan are the most notable. Still, there’s only so much calming of the nerves that limited experience as an amateur six years ago can have in a major championship. So, just like a couple before it this year, this edition of this weekly staple focuses solely on specific statistics that project success on the 7,741-yard behemoth northwest of Milwaukee. NOTE: For each of the stats below, all in the field who rank inside the top 25 on the PGA TOUR are cited. * – In the Power Rankings Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green Always relevant, its value increases when unfamiliar greens serve as the targets. Hitting full shots is a constant. Being in tune with distance and accuracy is evidence of confidence. Greens in Regulation With generous fairways, the trouble is pronounced around greens. Dastardly bunkers are poised to swallow wayward approach shots. The final leaderboard may very well consist of those who lead the field in GIR. Scrambling While the winner is expected to land several strokes under par, lest we forget that this is a U.S. Open. Salvaging pars after finding trouble can feel like finding birdies and can score like half-birdies. So, scrambling supersedes bogey avoidance as the preferred angle. Strokes gained: putting may be more statistically relevant in retrospect, but with virtually zero experience on the greens at Erin Hills, going in focusing on the up-and-down game is more sensible since putting is baked into it. Par-5 Scoring The USGA has taken heat recently, but it again has the opportunity to showcase which of the world’s best golfers deserve to be crowned the 117th champion of the national open. It will not hurt the optics that Erin Hills is the first par 72 to host a U.S. Open since Pebble Beach in 1992. And while all four par 5s can stretch over 610 yards – it’s possible for the 18th hole to reach 675 yards – those are the holes that will help generate churn on the leaderboard. Expect the USGA to dial in yardage based on wind, hole locations and relevant difficulty of holes before and after each.

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