More than a decade after his very successful junior golf career, Denver native Wyndham Clark hoping to pay it forward with his own AJGA event
By Gary Baines – 6/3/2025
It wasn’t so long ago that Wyndham Clark was a teenage golf phenom, dominating tournaments in Colorado and starting to make a name for himself around the country.
Among the many things the Denver native and Valor Christian golfer accomplished on the course during those teenage years:
— The standout from Cherry Hills Country Club won the open-age Colorado state amateur, then known as the CGA Stroke Play, at age 16 in 2010 at Boulder Country Club, becoming the youngest winner of that event since Bob Byman prevailed in 1971, at a slightly younger 16 years old.
— Clark captured two 4A boys state high school individual titles (2009 and ’11), the latter as a senior, when he shot rounds of 64-64 for a 16-under-par total at Pelican Lakes and cruised to an eight stroke victory. In the two years he didn’t win, he placed second. In 2009, Clark led Valor, which opened in 2007, to its first state team title in any sport. Clark also played basketball at Valor, where he was a classmate of now-NFL standout Christian McCaffrey.
— At age 15 Clark won the 2009 CGA Junior Stroke Play by 11 strokes at Eaton Country Cub, finishing 8 under par for three rounds.
— Also at 15, he made it to the final 16 at the U.S. Junior Amateur and placed third in the oldest boys division at the prestigious Callaway Junior World Championships in San Diego.
— In 2010 at age 16, Clark (along with fellow current PGA Tour player Patrick Cantlay) qualified in Colorado for the U.S. Amateur for the first time. Clark would go on to qualify for the U.S. Am on four more occasions, the last in 2016, when he advanced to the round of 32.
— In 2012, Clark won the prestigious Byron Nelson International Junior Golf Award.
And the Coloradan competed in more than 20 American Junior Golf Association events during his youth, winning the Under Armour/Vicky Hurst Championship in 2010 and being named a Rolex Junior All-American twice.
And now that Clark has won three times on the PGA Tour, including the 2023 U.S. Open, and been inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, things have come full circle in a way. This week’s AJGA event that will be played at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster Wednesday through Friday will have Wyndham Clark’s name on it. Specifically, it’s called The Wyndham Clark, Presented by the Colorado Golf Association.
Clark autographs a hat for a young fan at last year’s BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club.
Though Clark supported the AJGA event at Walnut Creek starting last year, this edition of the tournament marks the first one that the AJGA has labeled it with his name.
“It’s very important to me to be involved in that,” Clark told Colorado Golf Journal this spring. “It’s so cool. I remember playing Hunter Mahan’s tournament back in the day — an AJGA event. I think Hale Irwin had events. I remember playing all the top players’ junior events, so it’s pretty cool to now have my own name on a junior tournament with how much it meant to me as a kid to play in those events.
“I love giving back to have other kids have the opportunity to do what I did. I’m really happy I was able to do that. It’s a pretty cool realization of where I’ve gotten to in my career that they would even want to name a tournament after me. It’s awesome.”
This particular AJGA tournament has had different names at different times, but it’s been around continuously since 2015, with the exception of 2020, when it was canceled due to Covid-19 safety concerns. It had Boulder High School and University of Colorado alum Hale Irwin’s name on it for a number of years.
Clark won the open-age state amateur, then known as the CGA Stroke Play, at age 16 in 2010 at Boulder Country Club.
“I grew up playing Colorado junior golf and AJGAs and every junior event in Colorado, so to be able to support what helped bring me up is something that’s close to me,” Clark said last year during the BMW Championship at Castle Pines. “I want to help those kids try to get to where I am — and get the opportunities that I had.
“I am thrilled to be able to support junior golf in my home state,” Clark added in an AJGA story this spring. “To do it with an organization I grew up playing in feels very full circle.”
Tuesday marked the junior-am day at Walnut Creek, and participants were scheduled to be gifted Municipal-brand shirts as part of the outing. Clark is a friend and business partner of actor Mark Wahlberg, centered around the company that makes and sells Municipal sports utility gear, which Wahlberg co-founded.
Miles Kuhl of Boulder, who won the AJGA boys title at Walnut Creek in 2024, will be back to defend his title this week. Also among those scheduled to tee it up on the boys side are fellow Team Colorado members Gavin Amella of Castle Rock, Charlie Doyle of Colorado Springs, Brayden Forte of Aurora, Jesse Hand of Littleton, Landon Houska of Fort Collins, Austin Hunt of Highlands Ranch and Tyler Long of Evergreen. Likewise competing will be Ash Edwards of Boulder, Crew Fitzgerald of Parker, Alex Lest of Littleton, Conner Scheich of Highlands Ranch and Brayden Destefano of Peyton. Amella, Long and Destefano claimed boys state high school individual championships last fall.
Girls Team Colorado players scheduled to play at Walnut Creek include Zoe-Bar-Or of Greenwood Village, Ashley Chang of Lone Tree, Brenna Higgins of Centennial, Addison Hines of Arvada, Sophia Lee of Columbine Valley, Ella Scott of Castle Rock and Ashleigh Wilson of Highlands Ranch. Among the others playing are Landry Frost of Colorado Springs and CheyAnne Schrick of Timnath. Frost, Lee, Scott and Schrick won girls state high school individual titles last month.
The winner of the girls tournament this week will receive an exemption into the CGA Women’s Stroke Play, set for July 14-16 at Eisenhower Golf Club at the Air Force Academy.
The Wynhdam Clark Presented by the Colorado Golf Association is one of three of AJGA events scheduled for Colorado in 2025. The others will be the AJGA Colorado Springs Junior June 10-12 at Cheyenne Shadows Golf Club in Fort Carson, and the AJGA Junior Open at The Bridges presented by the City of Montrose July 30-Aug. 1 at The Bridges Golf & Country Club in Montrose.
After winning three PGA Tour events in nine months in 2023-24, including a U.S. Open, and moving as high as No. 3 in the World Golf Rankings, Clark has struggled with his game this year. His only top-10 finish of the season was a fifth place at the Texas Children’s Houston Open in late March. And, after throwing his club and damaging it and some signage following a tee shot during the final round of the PGA Championship last month, he apologized for his actions.
“I would like to sincerely apologize for my behavior (May 18) on Hole 16,” Clark posted. “As professionals, we are expected to remain professional even when frustrated and I unfortunately let my emotions get the best of me. My actions were uncalled for and completely inappropriate, making it clear that I have things I need to work on. I hold myself to a high standard, trying to always play for something bigger than myself, and (on May 18) I felt short of those standards. For that I am truly story. I promise to better the way I handle my frustrations on the course going forward, and hope you all can forgive me in due time.”
Regarding his golf game, the 31-year-old hopes for a turn in the right direction leading into the U.S. Open, where he had his career victory two years ago. Clark will tee it up at the RBC Canadian Open starting Thursday before heading for the U.S. Open, where he and the rest of the 156-man field will face an extremely formidable test as Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania will host next week.
For Wednesday’s tee times for The Wyndham Clark, Presented by the CGA, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com