Wyndham Clark hopes to put “frustrating” year behind him with successful Olympic campaign

Wyndham Clark, who won at Pebble Beach in February, has struggled to replicate his early season success as the year has worn on.

Wyndham Clark arrives at the Olympic Men’s Golf Competition as somewhat of an outlier on Team USA.

Nobody has played better golf this year than Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, who have combined to win three of the four majors. Then there is Collin Morikawa, who tied for third at Augusta National, tied for fourth at Valhalla, and then posted a pair of top-20 finishes at the U.S. Open and The Open. Morikawa has had a solid major championship campaign, much unlike Clark.

Clark, meanwhile, has missed the cut in three majors and tied for 56th at Pinehurst No. 2 in his U.S. Open title defense. He does not boast the resume that his fellow Americans have, which explains why many believe that Bryson DeChambeau should have replaced Clark on Team USA instead.

Yet, Clark does have five top-10 finishes dating back to mid-March, including a pair of runner-up finishes at The Players and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He also posted back-to-back top-10s at the Travelers Championship and Genesis Scottish Open. Royal Troon then sent Clark spiraling, as only six players finished worse than he did through 36 holes.

But ahead of the Texas Children’s Open in Houston, Clark threw out his back while working out, an injury that has continued throughout the season and has led to some frustrations.

“I have some injuries I’ve been dealing with, happened right before Houston leading into the Masters, and I haven’t been the same,” Clark explained Wednesday.

“I feel like I’m finally getting to where I can swing at the level that I know I can swing, and so that’s kind of been an ongoing issue, and it’s been frustrating for me.”

Clark even admitted that he has lost distance because his ailments have prevented him from swinging at full speed.

“I’ve got to be honest, I’ve been very frustrated with how I played at the majors,” Clark added.

“I believe I wasn’t showing how good of a player I know I can be, especially at highest level in the majors. But I’ve also got to look at how far I’ve come in two years. I’m fifth on the FedEx in back-to-back years, and I’ve won multiple times. I have a lot of top finishes, and I’m here at the Olympics. So I’ve got to make sure I don’t let the outside people put too much pressure on myself because I’ve grown so much in these two years. You know, it’s not where I want to be in the future, but years like this, I’ve learned a lot and I’m hoping I take all the things I learned and play better in the majors next year.”

Clark, whose only top-10 finish in a major came last year at the Los Angeles Country Club, will have to wait nine months until Augusta before getting another crack. Despite his agitation, he remains positive going into the Olympics, and if he can bring home a Gold Medal, most of those frustrations will wash away.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.