Wyndham Clark has been one of the brightest stars on the PGA Tour since his victory at last year’s U.S. Open. And on Thursday at the 2024 Masters, Clark fired the latest volley in pro golf’s long-running feud with a slight directed at LIV Golf players.
Clark was a popular sleeper pick heading into this week at Augusta National. He backed up his U.S. Open win with a victory at this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, then finished runner-up to Scottie Scheffler in back-to-back starts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship.
His play earned him his first-ever invite to the Masters, but Clark’s opening round on Thursday didn’t go according to plan. He was three under on the front nine, but then gave back four shots on the back to shoot a one-over 73.
Meanwhile, LIV Golf player Bryson DeChambeau finished Thursday’s play in the lead at seven under.
Despite all of that, Clark hadn’t lost any confidence after his round, and when reporters caught up to him, he launched a shot at the LIV players in the field at Augusta.
“You know we’ve got 54 holes,” Clark said, referring to how many holes there are left to play at this year’s Masters. “In LIV Golf they only play 54, so I like my chances.”
You can watch Clark’s comments for yourself below.
While the feud between the PGA Tour and LIV has calmed down over the past year, it’s still not surprising to see the sides taking shots at each other.
What was surprising was the timing of Clark’s comments.
Yes, DeChambeau was in the lead a full eight shots ahead of Clark, but he also wasn’t the only LIV golfer who played well in the first round.
Four LIV players in all were in the top 10 when play was called due to darkness Thursday night, including Tyrrell Hatton, Joaquin Niemann and Patrick Reed.
But as Clark said, there is a lot of golf left to play, and at Augusta National everything can change in an instant. Clark will begin to try and back up his strong words on the course when he tees off for Round 2 on Friday at 2 p.m. ET.
