Confidence 'Sky High'

Can Wyndham Clark continue red-hot streak at British Open? Denver native has posted 6 straight top-13 finishes — with 2 wins — and he placed 4th at this major last year

By Gary Baines 

The way things are going for Wyndham Clark, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if the Colorado Golf Hall of Famer finds himself in contention this week at the British Open.

But with firm-and-fast links golf involved — as will likely be the case at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England starting Thursday — performance tends to be less predictable, even for a player such as Clark that has been ever so solid recently.

Factoring that in — as well as just about anything else you can imagine — Clark is a top-15 pick to win this week, based on an average of many prominent oddsmakers.

That’s fitting, considering how the Denver native and Valor Christian High School graduate has performed over his last half-dozen events. In none of those has he finished outside the top 15. The number of players who can currently say that is short indeed.

Specifically, in those last six tournaments for Clark, he’s placed first, third, 11th, first, fifth and 13th — with the victories coming at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in May and the U.S. Open last month.

It’s little wonder why, when Clark was asked at his pre-tournament press conference this week at Royal Birkdale, how his confidence is, he said, “It’s definitely sky high right now.”

Not only has the 2010 CGA Amateur champion had that amazing run of late — which has vaulted him up to No. 8 in the World Golf Rankings — but in last year’s British Open, he placed fourth, his best PGA Tour showing of 2025.

In that championship, at Royal Portrush, he started with a 76, but came roaring back with scores of 66-66-65 the last three days, leaving him six strokes back of champion Scottie Scheffler.

“It was really the first time I’ve played well in this championship” in four tries, the 32-year-old said this week. “Outside a tough first round, I really would have had a chance to win.

“I’m excited for this new challenge. The biggest thing for me is probably a nice start. As I said last year, I shot 5 over (the first day) and then shot (16 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.”

Clark comes in having won the last major championship — the U.S. Open, where he prevailed or the second time in four years after leading wire to wire.

With the condensed schedule for men’s open-age majors, the British Open marks the final one of the year. And, after Sunday, it’ll be almost nine long months until the next one rolls around, the Masters.

Though there are many factors that have gone into Clark’s red-hot stretch, none is bigger than putting. Having made a switch to a Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset in the early spring, Clark now leads the PGA Tour this season in putting average — the average number of putts per green in regulation.

But the putting in the U.K. doesn’t easily equate to that in the U.S., where most PGA Tour events are played. And last week at the Genesis Scotland Open, Clark ranked 22nd in strokes gained putting en route to a 13th-place finish. That’s still impressive, but he was better in that statistical category in each of his previous five starts.

Meanwhile, on a couple of occasions this week, Clark has been hitting balls while putting a plastic hanger between his wrists.

“My swing has gotten a little off,” he said. “I hit it kind of crappy, especially on Sunday (at the Scottish Open). 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.

“… 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.”

For the first two rounds at Royal Birkdale, Clark will be paired with Cameron Young and Ludvig Åberg. They’ll tee off at 8:04 a.m. (MT) on Thursday and 2:28 a.m. (MT) on Friday.

For Thursday and Friday tee times for the British Open, 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