The US Open champion arrived at Royal Birkdale as one of the favorites for The Open, but it was an unusual practice aid on the range that caught everyone’s attention.
It’s been a good couple of months for Wyndham Clark. After a slow start to the season which featured several missed cuts, culminating in missing the weekend at the PGA Championship in May, the 32-year-old has since clocked up six straight top-15 finishes, including victories at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and last month’s US Open.
“It’s definitely sky high right now,” the two-time major champion said when asked about his current confidence levels.
He’s one of the favorites for The Open at Royal Birkdale, based on that form and a strong showing at Royal Portrush last year.
“Obviously a great finish last year at Royal Portrush, tied fourth. Something to build on again this week,” he said. “It was really the first time I’ve played well in this championship. You know, outside a tough first round, I really would have had a chance to win.
“I shot 5-over and then shot, what, like 20-under in the last three rounds for a nice finish. If we could just start off good, I think I’ll have a good chance.”
But no golfer is ever satisfied, and Clark is no different. Despite being in the form of his life, the American has been spotted doing an unusual practice drill on the range at Birkdale, making use of a humble coat hanger to work on his swing.
“Mondays are my technical days,” he explained. “You won’t see me doing a bunch of that stuff the rest of the week. My swing’s gotten a little off. I hit it kind of crappy, especially yesterday.
“The coat hanger is for wrist angle, trying to get a little more inflection in my left wrist so I can square the face more.
“It’s like an old, old training aid. People have been doing it forever.
“I didn’t come up with it, but for myself, I was like, okay, I know that helps wrist angles.
“I didn’t come up with it, but I decided to do it. My swing coach and I have been working on it. I get my wrist cupped and I’ve been trying to get it flatter. I feel like that’s the best way to do that.”
Clark says he’ll typically use the hanger for “15 to 20 [balls] just to get the feeling”.
Clark was seen using the hanger – albeit different models – again on Tuesday.
While the hanger may help Clark’s wrist angles, he says there’s a bigger reason for his upturn in form this season.
“You know, it’s… things are really good. I think people don’t talk enough about what’s going on off the course and equate that to what’s going on on the course.
“I think it’s very difficult to have off-course issues and play really good golf. You may be able to fake it a couple weeks here and there, but for a season it’s difficult.
“I think last year I had a lot of off-course issues that were bleeding into the golf and led to some poor golfing decisions.
“Right now I’m very pleased with my life off the course. It’s very simple. I have an amazing girlfriend. I have an amazing family. Everything is set up awesome off the course, so then it’s bleeding into playing really free golf on the golf course.”
His US Open victory at Shinnecock last month showed incredible mental strength, as he endured significant crowd abuse throughout the weekend. Never one of the most revered figures in the game, Clark’s popularity took a bigger dent than the Oakmont lockers he kicked in after a frustrating performance at Oakmont the previous year. But he says he has thick enough skin to deal with whatever the crowd can throw at him.
“It’s funny, when everything’s great you don’t think anyone is going to say anything bad towards you, and then Oakmont happened and I kind of became a, quote, unquote, villain within the game of golf. I’ve had a lot of practice dealing with that the whole year leading up to Shinnecock.
Then in Canada, I wore the Jack Hughes jersey and they really gave it to me. So that was pretty good prep. So I’d almost say I’ve become pretty calloused to it. I played other sports, and I always loved playing in an away gym. I love when you silence a gym.
“That’s kind of what it felt like at Shinnecock. They were giving me everything they got, and I felt like I overcame all of the challenges.”
Clark is unlikely to face the same level of hostility from a typically more measured Open crowd, and the R&A have put a fan Code of Conduct in place to ensure spectators don’t become an unduly large part of the story.