Denver native Wyndham Clark puts himself behind 8-ball with nightmarish start in men’s Olympic golf debut
By Gary Baines – 8/1/2024
(Aug. 3 Update: Wyndham Clark continued to rally from his rough start at the men’s Olympic golf tournament as a 6-under 65 in the third round — despite a double bogey at No. 2 — moved the Denver native up to 23rd place, 33 spots better than he stood after round 1.)
(Aug. 2 Update: Denver native Wyndham Clark rebounded from a first-round 75 at the men’s Olympic golf tournament, shooting a 3-under-par 68 despite hitting his approach shot into the water and taking a double bogey on the final hole on Friday. He also made six birdies and one bogey in round 2, and shares 46th place at the halfway point near Paris. )
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(Original Story) Prior to Thursday, Wyndham Clark’s Olympic experience sounded near ideal as he soaked in the experience of the Opening Ceremonies and attending several competitions at the Games in and around Paris.
But the Denver native’s first experience as an Olympic competitor was far less than perfect.
The 2023 U.S. Open champion had a nightmarish start at Le Golf National due mainly to too many encounters with the plentiful water on the course. The result was a 4-over-par 75 that left him tied for 56th place out of 60 players after round 1 of the men’s Olympic golf tournament. Only Min Woo Lee of Australia (76) and Camilo Villegas of Colombia (76) trailed him.
On a day when scoring was quite low due to soft conditions — Hideki Matsuyama, paired with Clark, opened with an 8-under 63 — Clark put himself behind the 8-ball with a bogey-double bogey-bogey start. After narrowly missing the water with his opening tee shot, the Valor Christian graduate found the H2O with his next two shots off the tee — on Nos. 2 and 3. And he deposited his approach into the agua on No. 15 en route to a double bogey.
Clark, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, finished his first Olympic round with three birdies, three bogeys and two double bogeys.
The positive news for Clark is that there is no cut in the Olympic tournament, so the impending Colorado Golf Hall of Famer will have three rounds in which to try to rebound.
Clark, Matsuyama and Tommy Fleetwood will tee off for Friday’s second round at 3:44 a.m. (MT). Golf Channel is carrying the action live starting at 1 a.m. (MT).
As for the other Americans in the field, defending Olympic champion Xander Schauffele opened with a 65 (second place), Scottie Scheffler with a 67 (sixth) and Collin Morikawa with a 70 (29th).
For all the scores from the men’s Olympic golf, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com