When it comes to Wyndham Clark, casual golf fans would be forgiven for thinking of him has a quiet, soft-spoken pro with a vanilla personality. But he is not.
The last two seasons have shown Clark to be an opinionated, outspoken and hyper-competitive player. In 2023, Clark captured his first win at the Wells Fargo in May, then broke through for a major victory at the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
After making his U.S. team debut at the 2023 Ryder Cup, Clark was in the heat of the battle at last month’s Presidents Cup, and he got involved with the event’s most controversial moment.
That Tom Kim controversy? Wyndham Clark says there’s more to the story
During a late Saturday match between Americans Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay and Internationals Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim, Tom Kim accused U.S. players watching the match from the sidelines of “cursing at us.”
Then International team member Ben An called out Clark directly on Twitter, and Clark fired back with a quip of his own.
This week, Clark showed his opinionated side when he joined the No Laying Up podcast and got onto what has been the most controversial subject in pro golf over the past few years: LIV Golf.
One of the current hot-button topics is if and how LIV players should be allowed to return to the PGA Tour once an agreement is finalized between the Tour and PIF.
In the interview, Clark told No Laying Up that he supports some LIV pros returning to their roots on Tour, but not all of them. The primary distinction between the two groups? Their Tour “pedigree.”
“It depends on who it is,” Clark told No Laying Up. “Guys that have had the career where they should be lifelong PGA Tour players, they deserve the right to come play the PGA Tour.”
He continued: “If Dustin Johnson wants to come back and Phil Mickelson and guys that have won, Brooks, who have won majors and are most likely Hall of Famers, they deserve to play wherever the hell they want, because they’re so good.”
Caddie says U.S. players cursed at, ‘got very personal’ with Tom Kim at Presidents Cup
But as for players who are not household names and don’t have many glittering trophies in their homes, Clark expressed hesitation on letting them come back to the Tour.
“Guys that maybe left and didn’t have that pedigree and career,” Clark said, “those are the guys I struggle with because they made their decision.”
Clark also revealed that if players knew they could “take the money” from LIV and still play PGA Tour events, “we all would have done that.”
This is not the first time Clark has commented on LIV Golf since the upstart league’s inception in 2022.
After his win at the abbreviated AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where the tournament was called after 54 holes due to bad weather, Clark admitted he had seriously considered an offer from LIV but declined to instead pursue his lifelong goal of winning PGA Tour events.
“I ultimately declined going to LIV because I felt like I still have a lot of things left in the tank on the PGA Tour and I wanted to chase records, I wanted to chase world ranking,” Clark said following his win. “My dream is to try to be one of the top players in the world if not the top player. I just grew up always imagining winning PGA Tour events. So ultimately, I chose my legacy over LIV and that’s really what it came down to.”
Then at the Masters, Clark took a subtle shot at LIV Golf and its players. After struggling to a one-over 73 in the opening round, Clark quipped, “You know we’ve got 54 holes [left]. In LIV Golf they only play 54, so I like my chances.”
You can listen to Clark’s full interview with the No Laying Up podcast here.
