British Open 2025: Wyndham Clark's strong Portrush showing still leads to discussion of Oakmont
Stuart Kerr/R&A
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Wyndham Clark secured his career-best result at the British Open with a sensational final round at Royal Portrush, but his locker-room incident at last month’s U.S. Open still lingered.
Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, was suspended from Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh following his damage to the famous club’s locker room during the national championship, which went viral on social media after a picture was taken of the damage.
In a letter to members, Oakmont C.C. outlined that “reinstatement would be contingent upon Mr. Clark fulfilling a number of specific conditions, including full repayment for damages, a meaningful contribution to a charity of the Board's choosing, and the successful completion of counseling and/or anger management sessions.”
Clark tied for fourth at Portrush with rounds of 66-66-65 following an opening 76.
The 31-year-old said after his top-five result at Portrush that he and his team spoke with Oakmont about working through their requests.
“Yeah, we reached out and we wanted to do that,” Clark said. “Obviously it's a no-brainer to pay for the damages; that was a given. Then obviously all the apologies, and I want to give back to the community because I hurt a great place in Pittsburgh, so I wanted to do anything I can to show them that what happened there was not a reflection of who I am and won't happen again. But I want to show them who I really am with the apology and the things I'm going to do.”
Clark also threw a club and damaged a tee sign at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in May and said the two incidents “woke him up” to previous temper issues that he wanted to work on.
“I've had them in the past; I've been pretty open about my mental shift and change to get better, and I did that in '23 and '24, and then having a tough year and all the expectations and just frustration all coming together, and I did two stupid things,” Clark said. “But one thing that it did do is wake me up and get me back into the person I know I am and the person I want to be. I hope those things don't reflect because I don't think they reflect on who I am, and going forward that stuff is not going to happen again.”
Although he won the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Clark had struggld at the majors since his U.S. Open triumph, with his previous best result a T-33 at the British Open at Royal Liverpool. He had missed four cuts in eight major starts until Portrush this week. He stopped short of blaming anything other than his behavior for the U.S. Open and PGA mishaps.
“I'm not going to justify what I did in those two things but yes [golf] is very demanding,” he said. “It's an individual sport. Everyone is always watching you and it's always on you. Yeah, sometimes it gets the best of you. All of us have had moments that we're not proud of, and those two I'm definitely not proud of. So it is difficult.”
Oakmont is an anchor site for the USGA and will welcome the U.S. Open again in 2033, for which Clark will still be eligible since champions are given a 10-year exemption. Clark won at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023.
“I don't know,” Clark said about being welcome back. “That's up to them. I really don't know. I would hope so. It's a fantastic course and place … I did something awful, and I'm really sorry for it. Hopefully they have it in their heart to forgive me, and maybe in the future I'll be able to play there.”
Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.
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