Wyndham Clark bought off to a different poor begin on the Paris Olympics, persevering with a pattern from The Open Championship at Royal Troon, the place he badly missed the reduce.
The 2023 U.S. Open champion started with two bogies and a double bogey over his first three holes, due to a pair of tee photographs that discovered the water on the 2nd and third. Clark’s opening tee shot additionally landed on the financial institution of the penalty space, forcing him to take his medication by chipping again into the green. That led to a bogey-five, a harbinger of issues to come back.
He struggled all day, dropping greater than 5 photographs to the sphere in general strokes gained on account of his poor placing and iron play. However his wayward tee-shots early didn’t assist his trigger both.
Alas, Clark managed to regular the ship on the ninth and tenth holes, making back-to-back birdies to climb to 2-over for the championship. However a bogey on the twelfth saved him at bay, as he wanted to make a 12-footer simply to avoid wasting his 5. Clark was everywhere on that par-4, hitting his tee shot left into the bunker and putting his method miles left of the inexperienced.
A birdie on the par-5 14th salvaged these errors, however his efforts to bounce again fully unraveled on the fifteenth. There, Clark discovered the water as soon as once more, this time along with his method, as he went on to make a double-bogey six.
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He in the end carded a 4-over 75 and sits in a tie for 56th, sitting 12 photographs behind chief Hideki Matsuyama after day one.
Clark has had a blended bag of a season since his historic victory on the AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am in early February. A again damage has created some inconsistency in his sport, resulting in poor outcomes. Nevertheless, he has posted 5 top-10 finishes since March—together with two on the Vacationers Championship and the Genesis Scottish Open.
“It’s been lots of issues that led me down a path of, ‘Is it one thing in my swing? Is it tools?’ After which, coming full circle, we simply realized now I’m loads more healthy, and perhaps there have been a few tools issues,” Clark mentioned Wednesday in his pre-tournament press convention.
“However you begin happening rabbit holes that perhaps I shouldn’t have gone down, and subsequent factor you recognize, I’m lacking cuts by a little bit bit and never enjoying on the degree that I used to be earlier within the yr or some components of final yr.”
Maybe Clark will dig out of the deep gap he has dug himself on Thursday in Paris. But when he fails to take action, extra questions on his well being and type will proceed to linger because the FedEx Cup Playoffs in August await.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By means of. Be sure you try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You may comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.
