Wyndham Clark spoiled the local fun Sunday in McKinney.
The Denver, Colo. native and former major champion shot a blistering final-round 60 at TPC Craig Ranch to take The CJ Cup Byron Nelson championship, leaving hometown challengers Si Woo Kim and Scottie Scheffler to settle for second and third, respectively.
Kim, a Dallas resident, had entered the final round of the tournament in sole possession of first and holding a two-stroke lead over Highland Park product Scheffler, as well as Clark.
Kim and Scheffler, longtime PGA Tour friends, were the final grouping to go off Sunday at Craig Ranch, but the drama had evaporated upon reaching the 18th green with Clark having already secured the championship following birdies on holes No. 17 and 18.
In fact, Clark carded birdies on four of the final five holes to finish three shots in front of Kim and five shots clear of Scheffler. His final-round 60 was a career-low and matched Kim for the best round of the tournament. And his aggregate score of 30-under-par was one shot off tying a PGA Tour record, one which Scheffler tied in his own right a year ago when he won in McKinney.
“Man, it was pretty amazing,” Clark said. “Obviously I made a birdie on 14, and I look and Si Woo’s right there on my heels. Then I birdied 15, and I just knew I had to keep birdieing because I knew Si Woo was probably going to do the same thing, or even Scottie.
I felt pretty comfortable, but I knew I had to put the pedal to the metal and keep making birdies. I made more than I thought I was going to make, that’s for sure.
“I didn’t look (at the scoreboard) until 17. On 17, I looked because I thought maybe I was up one or two, and I saw I was up one. I knew on 17, okay, this would be a huge putt to make. Making that, I kind of knew that barring something crazy that Si Woo did, I should win. Then 18, that was just the icing on the cake on top.”
While Clark isn’t a Metroplex resident as are Kim and Scheffler, he did note the victory was a little sweeter given his ties to Texas. Clark said that as a kid he used to travel to Dallas frequently while his mother worked for Mary Kay, while his dad was also born in Texas.
Clark also had the chance to celebrate the win with some of his family, as his girlfriend, brother and his fiancee were all in attendance.
“My brother happened to be at a wedding in Austin, and he just drove up this morning,” Clark said. “They were supposed to fly out back to Kansas City, and he came up and was able to witness this, which is amazing. Then my girlfriend, she’s never really been a part of this stuff. She’s new to golf. So that was really neat.”
While Clark ultimately hoisted the trophy, it was still a successful showing for not only Kim and Scheffler, but also other participants from the Metroplex.
Dallas resident Taylor Moore finished in a tie for 14th (-18), Plano West product Pierceson Coody and Jesuit product Jordan Spieth were tied for 19th (-15), SMU product and Dallas resident Mac Meissner tied for 31st (-14) and Dallas resident Tom Kim finished in a tie for 54th (-10).
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