The defending champion of the US Open could have said it louder, but not clearer: “I’m impressed by how fast the greens are”. Monday, we are on a practice Monday and Wyndham Clark is already shouting from the rooftops: “the greens are already at the limit”, and one of the great defences of the course this week are precisely that, the greens.
We were commenting on Ten Golf the roughs as one of the great defences that Pinehurst Nº2 has, well to further complicate the game, the USGA is going to present very firm and very fast greens, of a devilish speed. It is usual for a course to defend itself with fast greens, but what has been experienced from the first day in the US Open edition is not so common. It is not usual for a defending champion to express himself in the terms he has done today.
Clark explained it very clearly: “when you have to putt downhill with the grain in your favour the speed of the greens today went from 13 to 15 or even 16, and when you had to do it uphill they hardly lost speed. Every putt is fast”. A real outrage. And that this Monday they were still a bit tender.
In fact, he acknowledges that on certain holes he has prepared some strategies with his caddie to ‘miss’ certain greens and have to play from below and above, avoiding at all costs having to putt downhill and without brakes: “Being on the green does not mean, by any means, that you have the par made”. What does this mean, that he even considers that sometimes it is better to chip, even if it is putting from the fringes, than to putt downhill.
One of the great complications that Clark finds is the ability to read the falls: “usually if on a downhill putt you are aiming a foot or two to the left or right of the hole, on these greens and at this speed you have to give it twice the fall”, and he acknowledges that he has homework in the coming days: “This is basically what I’m going to focus on in training. It’s what I’ve done today and what I’ll do in the coming days”.
They also asked Wyndham about his expectations this week in the tournament. He acknowledged simply that in recent weeks he is not playing well and that he comes with the intention of regaining sensations. The rest will be seen.
In this sense, the American admits that he has always demanded more from himself than normal and that this has caused him many headaches: “My expectations are probably higher than anyone else’s in this room. I have to work on it and not put so much pressure on myself. The reality is that 80% of golfers end up angry every tournament. My level of frustration is definitely higher than it has been in a long time. So yes, it’s a nuisance. The good thing about golf is that there’s always another week. I have to believe that good golf is just around the corner”, Clark concluded.
“What separates the good from the best is the mental issue. That’s the nature of this sport. You have to be able to fight against negative thoughts”, said the champion of a Major and acknowledged that what Scottie Scheffler is doing puts the other players in a bind because “it makes it look easy and the reality is that almost all players only play well a few weeks a year”.
We will see if the solution to his dilemma is just around the corner of Pinehurst Nº2 or if on the contrary Wyndham’s head continues to explode, either because of his high level of expectations or because of the greens of Donald Ross‘s layout.
