It’s been a year to remember for Wyndham Clark, with one club in particular proving instrumental in his rise to prominence.
The World Number 10 is the highest ranked player in the field at this week’s Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters as he makes his first start since representing the U.S. Team at the Ryder Cup.
In June, the 29-year-old claimed his maiden Major Championship at the U.S. Open, just a month after landing his first PGA TOUR title at the Wells Fargo Championship.
But he attributes much of his success to a change in his putter earlier in the campaign after a friendly game with countryman Rickie Fowler at Medalist in Florida.
“Prior to that, I was hitting the ball great, and I was having a lot of 15th to 30th finishes,” Clark said.
“The biggest thing that was standing out was my putting stats were not good. I played with Rickie that day and he made everything, especially ones which were about six to 12 feet.”
Shortly thereafter, Clark asked Odyssey for a replica of Fowler’s Versa Jailbird putter.
After initially delaying using it in practice, Clark first trialled his new putter at the Valspar Championship with success as he finished fifth in Florida – his best finish on the PGA TOUR since the Rocket Mortgage Classic a year earlier.
Another top ten quickly followed in the Dominican Republic, before victory in the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club a few weeks later.
Playing alongside him in the final round that day was none other than Fowler.
Ahead of teeing it up in Spain for the first time at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, Clark caught up with reporter Josh Antmann to discuss just why his new putter has made such a difference.
“One thing I will say is it is a very stable head,” Clark added.
“When you are close, especially inside that ten feet range it just seems like you can’t start it offline. You just build so much confidence in practice.”
_What the video at the top of the page to hear in full our latest What’s in the Bag feature. _
