The locker room at Oakmont and the winner\u2019s circle at Craig Ranch are about as far apart as two moments in a golfer\u2019s career can get. Wyndham Clark got through both, but the moment a broadcaster called it a personal triumph and a Tour pro backed that story, the backlash found a new target.<\/p>\n
Ryan Barath pushed back on X, saying, \u201cCan broadcasters please stop saying that Wyndham Clark overcame something that happened to him? He made a decision to throw a fit and destroy a locker; the locker didn\u2019t attract him.\u201d<\/p>\n
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This is when Michael Kim stepped in to save Clark, replying, \u201cThey are probably referring to him losing his mum early to cancer, man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark\u2019s mum, Lise Thevenet Clark passed away in August 2013 at the age of 55 after battling breast cancer. Before she died, she told her son that she wanted him to \u201cplay for her\u201d and to always \u201cplay big\u201d. And Clark\u2019s 4th Tour victory was a testament to that mantra.<\/p>\n
Clark won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson<\/a> by finishing 30-under. He earned $1.854 million and 500 FedExCup points. He interacted with CBS broadcaster Amanda, and she asked him how satisfying it felt after his struggles dating back to last year. Clark credited his sponsors, Power Design, SoFi, T-Mobile, and Lexus, for staying with him after Oakmont, saying:<\/p>\n \u201cThe greatest thing about having a downfall like that is the comeback.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n What happened at Oakmont in June 2025 was controversial. Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open championship in 2023, missed the cut. As a reaction to this, he damaged the locker room by throwing his club, and afterwards, the Oakmont authorities banned him from the course. Although he apologised later, posting the following on social media:<\/p>\n \u201cI promise to better the way I handle my frustrations on the course going forward, and I hope you all can forgive me in due time.\u201d<\/p>\n This was not the first time Kim had publicly backed Wyndham Clark, either.<\/p>\n When footage emerged in March 2025 questioning Clark\u2019s embedded ball relief at a tournament, Kim broke down the ruling on X and said he had no issue with what Clark did. In 2024, during a rain delay at the Wyndham Championship, Kim labeled Clark one of the \u201cbiggest card sharks\u201d on the Tour.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n 2025 wasn\u2019t an easy year for Clark. He missed the cut at The AmEx and WD from The PLAYERS Championship because of a neck injury. His best finishes were a T4 at the Open Championship and a T5 at the Texas Children\u2019s Houston Open, and this year he has been trying to turn things around. His best finish of 2026 so far is a T13 at The American Express. He played well at the Masters and the RBC Heritage, with finishes at both inside the top 25. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship.<\/p>\n But it looks like more than his game; the Kim support became a focus of discussion among fans trolling him.<\/p>\n Fans were not letting Michael Kim\u2019s defense of Wyndham Clark go easy<\/p>\n It all started with sarcasm! \u201cThe great white knight MK steps in to save the day,\u201d a fan wrote.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Kim is one of the vocal golfers on X. His repeated public defense of Wyndham Clark, from the embedded ball ruling in 2025 to the card shark praise in 2024, made this feel like an established habit and not a real standalone response, and fans noticed.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think so, Mr. Kim. I\u2019m sorry for the loss of his Mom and that road has been traveled,\u201d one more fan responded.<\/p>\n The loss was acknowledged, but fans drew a firm line between personal grief and professional conduct at Oakmont.<\/p>\n \u201cOh wow he\u2019s the only player on tour to ever lose a parent? No way, good for him,\u201d a user commented.<\/p>\n They pointed it out directly, taking a dig at Kim\u2019s reasoning. \u201cThat was 13 years ago Mike. That\u2019s not what they were referring to,\u201d read one comment.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cWe are humans, we lose close loved ones all the time, doesn\u2019t make an excuse for being an ego filled beach baby hiding behind mental stress, that\u2019s a childish cop-out my friend,\u201d another fan wrote.<\/p>\n With the timings not adding up, many felt Kim had sidestepped the actual issue at Oakmont rather than addressed it.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t make myself like Clark. I just can\u2019t. Don\u2019t feel like we ever got a real apology for him destroying a famed locker room and acting like a child,\u201d read another reaction.<\/p>\n The 32-year-old might have acknowledged the incident,, but for fans, that gap never closed.<\/p>\n Trending Articles<\/p>\n The post Fans Turn on PGA Tour Pro as He Defends Wyndham Clark After Craig Ranch Win<\/a> appeared first on EssentiallySports<\/a>. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The locker room at Oakmont and the winner\u2019s circle at Craig Ranch are about as far apart as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[290882,427,290880,166232,290881,99,14190],"class_list":["post-665523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-craig-ranch","tag-golf","tag-lise-thevenet-clark","tag-michael-kim","tag-royal-montreal-golf-club","tag-sports","tag-wyndham-clark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}