Colorado natives Wyndham Clark (5th at PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship) and Shane Bertsch (7th at Champions’ Hoag Classic) post season-best finishes
By Gary Baines – 3/19/2023
Finishing at almost the same time on Sunday afternoon, two Colorado natives posted top-10 finishes on their respective circuits — Wyndham Clark on the PGA Tour and Shane Bertsch on PGA Tour Champions.
All in all, it was a mighty impressive week for the Colorado boys.
Clark, a Valor Christian graduate, rallied after a forgettable start on Sunday — 3 over par after three holes — and played his last eight holes in 4 under par to finish a season-best fifth at the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla. In fact, it was Clark’s best PGA Tour showing since November 2020.
And Bertsch, the 1998 Colorado Open champion who was looking for his second victory on PGA Tour Champions, placed seventh on Sunday at the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, Calif. It was a welcome top 10 after starting out the season by finishing 29th, 65th and 66th. In fact, it was his best Champions performance since 2021.
Clark Continues His Roll: Clark is in the midst of a pretty remarkable stretch of golf.
The 2010 CGA Amateur champion at age 16, Clark made his 11th consecutive cut on the PGA Tour this week — no small feat on the world’s top circuit. And beyond that, it’s not like he’s making the cut and just finishing 50th each week.
On Sunday, Clark hung in after faltering at the beginning of the day to vault up the leaderboard for a top-five showing.
It marked Clark’s third top-10 of the season and 12th of his career, with an all-time best showing of a playoff runner-up. He also has two 16th-place showings this season.
After taking a double bogey on the second hole and a bogey on No. 3, Clark cranked into high gear over the final eight holes — before which he was 3 over for the day. From there, he 2-putted for birdie on 11, and added birdie putts of 35 feet at No. 12, 9 feet at No. 15 and 7 feet at No. 17.
That run took him from seven strokes down after 10 holes to finish four behind winner Taylor Moore. Clark ended up with a 1-under-par 70 to post a 6-under 278 total. He earned $332,100 for finishing fifth.
Clark jumped up to 39th on the season-long FedExCup point standings.
For all the scores from the Valspar Championship, CLICK HERE.
Shane Bertsch rebounded in a big way after a sub-par start to the season.
Bertsch Rounds Into Form: Bertsch led the Hoag Classic on the back nine on Sunday, but with a bogey on 17 and the players behind him making up ground, the Parker resident ended up three back of champion Ernie Els.
Nevertheless, Bertsch notched his best Champions showing since a sixth place in June 2021.
He went 68-68-67 for a 10-under-par total.
In a tournament that Bernhard Langer led on the back nine in his quest to surpass Hale Irwin and become the outright career victory leader on PGA Tour Champions, Els sank a 15-foot birdie at No. 18 to close with consecutive 65s and win.
Bertsch’s lone victory on PGA Tour Champions came in his second start on the circuit, at the Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops Big Cedar Lodge in August 2020.
Scott Petersen of Parker, another former Colorado Open champion who Monday qualified into the Hoag Classic field, finished 75th on Sunday (74-74-72).
For all the scores from the Hoag Classic, CLICK HERE.
Elsewhere in major tour golf over the weekend:
Also a Top 10 for Former DU Golfer Ellie Givens: Former University of Denver golfer Ellie Givens notched her first top-10 finish on the Ladies European Tour since 2021, placing seventh individually in Singapore on Saturday. Givens went 68-74-68. Also among those in the top 10 were LPGA Tour standouts Danielle Kang (second place) and Lydia Ko (third).
For all the scores from the LET event in Singapore, CLICK HERE.
About the Author: Gary Baines owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com