If Scottie Scheffler was the happy face of the THE PLAYERS Championship this Sunday, Wyndham Clark had no choice but to be the bitter one.
Yes, Brian Harman and Xander Schauffele also fell one stroke short of forcing a playoff, they also putted on the 18th to match Scheffler, but none of them were as close as the golfer from Denver, none of these two had the ball make an unlikely tie around the entire circumference of the hole to end up outside the hole.
Clark couldn’t hide his bitterness minutes after finishing the tournament. “I don’t know how it didn’t go in. It was on line, right center of the hole, about thirty centimeters left and I knew it was going to keep breaking, but it had speed and I was convinced it was going to go in on the left… I always thought it was going to go in. I was very angry that it didn’t go in,” he explained.
He even didn’t hesitate to confess a painful story that makes his missed putt even more cruel. “I’ve always wanted and dreamed of making a putt that really counted to force a playoff or win a tournament and I haven’t done it yet in my professional career. Right now I’m very discouraged for not having had one of those really impressive moments. I’m still a bit out of it. I’m still surprised that putt didn’t go in,” he pointed out.
No one doubts that with the evolution this player is having, one day he will have that winning putt in his hands, that huge satisfaction, but in the meantime it is not at all easy for him to find comfort. “There are positive things all about today. You finish second, you get a lot of points and money and all those things, but it’s shit. Maybe next week at some point I can see those positive aspects and feel good, but right now I’m pretty depressed,” he confessed.
However, he still had the spirit and strength to share some of those good conclusions he draws from the last fifteen days. “We’ve played two weeks in a row on two pretty tough golf courses, where I traditionally haven’t done very well and yet, I’ve finished second and second. I’m happy with that. I’ve played very well both weeks. I also take away that I can compete against the best in the world on the best courses. I was about to birdie the last three on one of the most iconic golf courses,” he stated.
Finally, to finish on top, Clark is confident that everything that happened today is the prelude to something much bigger. “Yes, I really hope these two seconds lead me to something bigger. I hope these last two weeks lead to something bigger. I’m really looking forward to what’s to come.”
