WASHINGTON – Wyndham Clark fought back tears, after outclassing Olympic champion Xander Schauffele in a back-nine battle on Sunday to win the Wells Fargo Championship by four strokes for his first PGA Tour triumph.
The 29-year-old American fired a three-under 68 to complete 72 holes on 19-under 265 at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, and defeat fifth-ranked Schauffele, who shot 70 to finish on 269.
“I’m a little choked up. It has been a long five years to get to this point on tour,” Clark said as he fought back tears.
“I thought I would have had one earlier, but it was well worth the wait. I’m just so grateful.”
He squandered the two-stroke lead he had when the day began, then picked up strokes on every hole from the eighth up till the 12th to seize command and denied playing partner Schauffele by matching his birdies down the stretch.
“There’s so much that goes into this,” Clark said.
“There are so many times when I wanted to cry and break clubs, and I did break the clubs sometimes, in this journey and to get to this point is so sweet. It’s just amazing to finally do this.”
He said it took a lot of mental fortitude, the very thing he has worked hard on this year, to pull off the triumph.
“Mentally, I was super strong,” he said.
“Didn’t start out great. I was kind of shaky. In years past, I might have folded. This time, I just stayed patient, hung in there and I caught fire on the back side.”
Clark won the US$3.6 million (S$4.77 million) top prize at the US$20 million event, surpassing his previous best PGA Tour cheque of US$485,000.
His victory fulfilled a dream he had shared with his late mother, who died of cancer while Clark was in college.
“My mum, obviously, is not here. I wish she was, but I know she’s watching,” he said.
England’s Tyrrell Hatton (70) and American Harris English (69) shared a distant third on 272, with England’s Tommy Fleetwood (70) and Australia’s Adam Scott (71), the 2013 Masters champion, another stroke adrift.
World No. 80 Clark, a runner-up at the 2020 Bermuda Championship in his previous best showing, had three top-six finishes in his past five starts before his breakthrough.
Schauffele, seeking his eighth PGA Tour title and first of the year, settled for a fifth consecutive top-10 result.
Clark opened his final round with a two-shot lead but bogeyed the par-four first hole. His compatriot, the 29-year-old Schauffele, then drew level with a birdie at the par-four third and took a brief solo lead at 16 under by birdieing the par-four seventh.
Over the next two holes, Clark regained the lead for good. He placed his second shot at the par-four eighth inside four feet to set up birdie and at the par-four ninth Schauffele three-putted for bogey.
Clark turned it on, birdying Nos. 10, 12, 14 and 15 before a closing bogey. The birdie run included a 19-foot birdie putt that steered right to left at the par-four 12th.
Schauffele could not keep up, finishing with a 70 with four birdies and three bogeys.
AFP, REUTERS
