Last month, it was signage at Quail Hollow. This week, it was the historic locker room at Oakmont.
In both instances, damage was done to a major-championship venue.
And in both instances, Wyndham Clark was implicated.
On Sunday afternoon, GOLF.com confirmed a report from Tron Carter of No Laying Up that Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open winner, had bashed in two lockers at Oakmont in a fit of frustration. His outburst came on Friday afternoon, after Clark had bogeyed the final hole of his second round to miss the cut in the 2025 U.S. Open by one shot.
Clark’s manager, Rob Mougey, did not respond to a request for comment, and a USGA spokesperson told GOLF.com that in matters related to player conduct, “we work directly with players and their teams. In the event we have any information to share, we would do so at the appropriate time.” But a source familiar with the matter told GOLF.com that Clark has acknowledged being the perpetrator, and that an apology would be forthcoming.
The news marks the second time in consecutive majors that Clark has left wreckage in his wake. Only four weeks ago, the 31-year-old issued a mea culpa for his conduct in the final round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, where he smashed a T-Mobile sign in anger on the 16th hole.
“I promise to better the way I handle my frustrations on the course going forward, and hope you all can forgive me in due time,” Clark wrote at the time.
Unlike the Quail Hollow incident, this week’s incident wasn’t caught on camera. But by Saturday evening, a photograph had spread on social media of two caved-in lockers at Oakmont, along with reports that the damage was Clark’s doing. By Sunday, with the final round underway at Oakmont, Clark had already been convicted in the court of public opinion, with multiple online commentators calling for him to be fined or suspended.
On Sunday, with word of the damaged lockers spreading around the club, several Oakmont members expressed a mix of disappointment and anger.
“Whoever did it, I don’t know who the f— they think they are,” one longtime member told GOLF.com. If Clark indeed was responsible, the member added, “I’d be tempted to show up at his next tournament and heckle him on the tee. You know, something like, Hey, buddy, how about I come to your house and kick in the shower doors?”
Another member, who was taking in the action inside the ropes Sunday evening, speculated that the members’ whose lockers were damaged would likely be in line for some form of restitution from Clark. “I wish he had done it to my locker,” the member joked.
Clark was not the only former U.S. Open winner to take out his frustration on Oakmont this week. A more public incident occurred on Friday, when Rory McIlroy smashed a tee marker in frustration on the 17th hole. But a tee marker is nowhere near as prized as the objects Clark damaged.
Like the club it serves, Oakmont’s locker room is steeped in history and brimming with reminders of the property’s rich championship past. Each of the nine golfers who has won a U.S. Open at Oakmont has his name on a locker, and the room’s wooden benches, which have been around as long as the course itself, bear spike marks left behind by legends spanning from Bobby Jones to Tiger Woods.
