{"id":307542,"date":"2026-05-25T02:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T02:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/307542\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T02:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T02:46:09","slug":"wyndham-clark-flips-the-script-to-win-cj-cup-byron-nelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/307542\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyndham Clark flips the script to win CJ Cup Byron Nelson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"Wyndham Clark poses for photos after winning the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez)\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Wyndham Clark poses for photos after winning the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez)<\/p>\n<p>Tony Gutierrez\/AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez<\/p>\n<p>MCKINNEY \u2014 Many among the throng of fans Sunday at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/golf\/article\/cj-cup-byron-nelson-tpc-craig-ranch-status-22270585.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TPC Craig Ranch<\/a> were pulling for one or both of the final-pairing Dallasites, especially the reigning tournament champion and World No. 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/topic\/scottie-scheffler\/\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scottie Scheffler<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-channels-pixel.ex.co\/events\/0012000001fxZm9AAE?integrationType=DEFAULT&amp;template=design%2Farticle%2Fplatypus_two_column.tpl\" alt=\"\" class=\"x1px y1px vh abs\" aria-hidden=\"true\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>In that regard Wyndham Clark was the hometown-story spoiler, but by no means was he a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/golf\/article\/cj-cup-byron-nelson-2027-dates-pga-tour-mckinney-22274510.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> CJ Cup Byron Nelson<\/a> mood-killer. Script changer? Scene-stealer? Yes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>A tournament could do much worse than having as its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/golf\/article\/byron-nelson-tournament-all-time-winners-scheffler-22271522.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">champion<\/a> the guy who won the 2023 U.S. Open. The guy who romped to this three-shot victory by shooting 30 under, including 11-under 60 on Sunday, punctuated by a jaw-dropping 28 on the back nine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A more than worthy champion with a more than compelling story, even if it isn\u2019t the hometown variety.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always believed I had it in me,\u201d Clark, 32, said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s amazing to actually perform and do it in this setting.<\/p>\n<p>Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=dallasnews.com\" data-link=\"native\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Add Preferred Source\" class=\"td300 cp f aic jcc disabled:cd wsn px24 y40px px16 py8 buttonSm fs13 xs:fs16 xs:buttonLg bg-primaryAccessible hover:o80 c-white disabled:bg-gray300 disabled:c-gray600 border bn tac br2\"><\/p>\n<p>Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s quite fun to be here. I played with Scottie on Saturday and even though they were rooting for the hometown kid, I still felt a lot of love.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>He entered Sunday tied with Scheffler for second at 19 under, two shots behind Si Woo Kim. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>How great was Clark? Kim and Scheffler shot 6-under 65s and still lost, respectively by three and five strokes. Kim poured in 33 birdies.\u00a0Scheffler made a tournament-low one bogey all week and didn\u2019t record his first and only 5 until Sunday\u2019s 12th hole.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes you&#8217;ve just got to tip your cap and say \u2018Good playing,\u2019 \u201d Scheffler said. \u201cAnd 60 was going to be pretty tough to beat today.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOverall, I&#8217;m proud of this week for myself, but I wish I could have gotten a few more shots out of it. Overall, Wyndham played great golf.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Last May, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/golf\/2025\/05\/04\/highland-parks-scottie-scheffler-completes-runaway-victory-at-cj-cup-byron-nelson\/\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scheffler led this tournament wire-to-wire<\/a> and won by eight shots en route to a PGA Tour record-tying 31-under 253-stroke total. That win was Scheffler\u2019s first of the season and helped catapult him to five more victories, including the PGA Championship and British Open. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Scheffler\u2019s lone win so far this year came in his season-opening American Express Championship in La Quinta, Calif., where on Sunday he\u00a0outdueled Kim and Clark. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Scheffler\u2019s solo third place finish on Sunday was his sixth top three of the season. In his four events entering this week, he had three solo seconds and a T14 in the PGA Championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m sure if you looked statistically I&#8217;m probably not much different than I have been the past couple years,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cJust a few shots here and there; a couple things go my way in some tournaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis season looks a bit differently, but like you said, I&#8217;ve been playing some solid golf. Just keep putting myself in position, and things will turn my way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was on the short par-4 sixth hole Sunday that\u00a0Scheffler experienced his \u201cthis probably isn\u2019t my day\u201d moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His approach from 105 yards hit the flagstick and took a hard backward bounce, winding up 55 feet from the pin.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Kim, at the time leading Scheffler by two strokes and Clark by one, stuck his approach to 4 feet and made the putt.\u00a0Scheffler parred to fall three behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll you could see from my angle is the ball coming down the hill,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cI couldn&#8217;t tell you what it did. It looked like it landed right in front of the cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you&#8217;re winning tournaments, those are the ones that sometimes go in. When you&#8217;re not winning tournaments, those are the ones that hit the pin and kind of go 50, 60 feet away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Clark and Stephan Jaeger were playing in the group in front of Scheffler-Kim. On the par-5 ninth, Clark sustained a mud ball in the fairway, but unlike the first three days, preferred lies were not in effect. Clark hit a nice recovery shot, but reacted in disbelief when he missed a 10-foot birdie putt.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe nice thing is I had a pretty decent walk to 10,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then I got to the tee, Stephan went first, which was nice. I said, \u2018All right, reset. We&#8217;re in a great spot. Just shot 4-under, we can do the same thing on the back.\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Instead, he made five birdies, an eagle and no bogeys on the back.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was quite a statement week for a player who rose as high as No. 3 in the world after his 2023 U.S. Open win at Los Angeles Country Club and 2024 AT&amp;T Pebble Beach victory \u2014 the latter in which he shot a final-round 60.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As recently as last year Denver native and University of Oregon product Clark was No. 7 in the world, but entering this week he was 75th. Sunday\u2019s win is projected to catapult him to No. 34. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s been a pretty heavy fall,\u201d he said. \u201cYeah, it&#8217;s frustrating, but that&#8217;s golf. I went through kind of a tough spurt, not swinging it good, not feeling comfortable with a lot of things, and I did a lot of work this off-season working on my golf swing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen I started hitting it better but wasn&#8217;t making the putts. Then finally landed on a great putter, and then everything&#8217;s been kind of coming together.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNeedless to say, it feels amazing to be back in the winner\u2019s circle. I feel like my game&#8217;s trending in a great direction to continue to have success through the rest of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This was the sixth Nelson played here. The winning scores have been 21 under, 26 under, 23 under, 23 under, 31 under and 30 under.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The $25 million, Lanny Wadkins-led renovation was supposed to add teeth to TPC Craig, but four days of negligible wind and soft conditions turned the Nelson into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/sports\/golf\/article\/scottie-scheffler-jordan-spieth-mixed-feelings-22272081.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">target practice<\/a> yet again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI initially thought when we were playing the practice round it was going to make the course tougher,\u201d Clark said. \u201cClearly it hasn&#8217;t. In defense of the new design, it&#8217;s been really wet and no wind.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegardless of what you do, we&#8217;re so good now, we&#8217;re going to make a lot of birdies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Said the man who on Sunday alone made nine birdies and an eagle. And stole the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wyndham Clark poses for photos after winning the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Sunday,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161,91092,101521],"class_list":["post-307542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-tp-golf","tag-tp-scottie-scheffler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}