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Wyndham Clark came within millimeters of forcing a playoff with Players Championship winner, Scottie Scheffler.
Wyndham Clark did not have his best stuff on Saturday and Sunday of The Players Championship, but he certainly did not deserve the lip-out that beset him on the 72nd hole.
Needing a birdie to tie Scottie Scheffler at 20-under, Clark hit his approach on 18 to 17-feet, giving himself a prime opportunity to force a three-hole playoff.
A terrific putter, Clark stepped up with confidence, hit a good stroke on line, and his putt looked good the whole way.
And then, it lipped around and out at the last second, sending Clark into despair.
“I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in,” Clark said.
“It was kind of right center with like a foot to go, and I knew it was going to keep breaking, but it had speed, and I thought it was going to go in inside left, and even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in. I’m pretty gutted it didn’t go in.”
Earlier in the round, on the par-4 14th, Clark made a mess of things, which led to a bogey. At that juncture, he sat at 17-under, three shots behind Scheffler, with little chance at victory.
But he battled back, just as he did on the 17th hole the day before.
Clark hit a terrific shot into the par-5 16th, but he could not convert the 12-foot eagle putt and instead settled for birdie.
“I wish I would have had more speed on 16 because then we’d be in a playoff,” Clark lamented.
“My speed, I try to keep it really constant, but sometimes it fluctuates. I do hit my short putts pretty firm. I’ve been known to do that. I just try to take the break out of it.”
The reigning U.S. Open champion faced a short putt on the next hole—the famous island green—thanks to an aggressive tee-shot that landed only four feet away. His tee shot on 17 during the final round was a testament to his resiliency, as he chunked one into the water the day before.
But Clark redeemed himself by draining the short birdie putt, which got him to 19-under, one stroke behind Scheffler.
That set up all of the drama on the 72nd hole.
Clark blistered his fairway wood down the middle of the fairway, and since the hole played downwind, he only had a pitching wedge left into the front left hole location.
“I don’t know what more you could ask for,” Clark said.
“I’m a huge guy of just always giving myself a chance. I feel like if I hit driver, I wasn’t guaranteed birdie, and I thought I could lose the tournament by hitting driver. I thought hitting 4-iron out there, like I did most of the days, but I had a pitching wedge in. I hit three perfect shots, and unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
