Wyndham Clark shoots 60 and takes outright lead at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Wyndham Clark blows away course record with stunning 12-under 60

Wyndham Clark, who has struggled with his putting since June, arrived early on Sunday and tried nine different putters on the Pebble Beach Golf Links practice green in the hopes of discovering a secret. Did he ever?

Wyndham Clark had the best round of golf that any player has ever played at Pebble Beach. At Pebble Beach Golf Links, the defending U.S. Open champion made almost every shot he faced and posted a course record 12-under 60 on Saturday to grab the lead following the 3rd round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“I believe that in the past, I could have easily coasted in and shot an excellent eight or nine under.” “The most impressive thing, in my opinion, was being able to maintain mental aggression and keep the pedal down.” Furthermore, it goes without saying that sinking all those putts was extraordinary and fantastic.

Even with preferred lies in place, he managed to make the most putts of any competitor in a round at Pebble since the stat’s inception in 2003—189 feet, 9 inches—three strokes better than Jason Day’s next-best round on some of the roughest poa annua greens the PGA Tour plays all year.

John Ellis, Clark’s caddy, said, “I’ve never witnessed an individual putt better let alone my own guy,” in response to the question of whether that was the greatest he has seen his boss putt.

At the par-5 second hole, Clark, who had shot 67 at Pebble the day before, ignited the celebration with a 40-foot eagle putt. Pebble is a renowned links on the Monterey Peninsula. At the fourth hole, he scored his first of nine birdies that day. At the par-5 sixth hole, he dropped in a 42-foot eagle, and he joked with Ellis, “Just give me eagle putts, I’ll make them.”

At the renowned par-3 eighth, which played just 99 yards downhill in the third round, he tucked inside three feet. He became one of just four players in history to tour the front in 8-under 28 after adding birdies on Nos. 8 and 9. Just six feet separated him from his 18-hole personal best of 156 feet, six inches in the third round of the 2020 Shriners Children’s Open. He had already made putts of 150 feet, 10 inches, which was nearly 25 feet far superior to the next best putting performance on the front nine dating back to 2003 (Charley Hoffman, 126 feet, 3 inches, in the second round in 2021).

He continued to make birdies at Nos. 10 and 11, but his nerves started to fray at 10.

Playing in Clark’s threesome, Matt Kuchar declared, “It was legit.” “He dropped it in at 11 and I was like, Wow, and when he birdied 10 I was like, Wow, this is real.”

It seemed like a gigantic hole, Wyndham Clark remarked.

It may seem unbelievable, but despite triumphing the U.S. Open in June, Clark has had trouble with his putting. He had approached Phil Kenyon, the putting guru, for assistance, but now Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler, and Matt Fitzpatrick are in his instruction book. Mike Kanski, his coworker, was recommended by him and arrived on Sunday for their initial meeting with Clark. The significant alteration? He took out the alignment device, somewhat shortened the putter, and began putting with a cross-handed grip instead of a traditional one.

There were “a lot of big changes,” but Clark added, “you kind of require a change, just something totally different so you could not complain or have the identical feels that I had in previous tournaments when you’re in a spot where I was mentally in putting.”

Julie Elion, a mental coach who started working with Wyndham Clark last year, advised him last week to get rid of any putting-related ambitions.

We’re emphasizing the putting part of it too much. We tried to approach the greens with the best mindset we could muster, he added, particularly since they are so slopey and uneven and make it difficult to make putts.

During his 60-hole round, Clark made one bogey at the par-3 12th hole, where his tee ball struck the bunker in front of the green, resulting in a fried egg lie. The ball would have been so much above his feet if he had been standing in the greenside bunker to play his third shot right-handed that he was concerned he would hit the hosel. He managed to hack it out but ended up with a treacherous lie.

He decided to play it left-handed and moved the ball to the fringe, which was 26 feet away from the hole. Then, he made the unlikeliest of bogeys, calling it “a round saver,” as he made yet another putt.

“It was the only putt I wasn’t really attempting to make today,” he continued. “I was really simply attempting to get it down there, two-putt, get the double, move on to the next hole, and just be focused on my speed.” That was like, “All right, man, I’m hot,” for it to get in.

It was hot enough to make birdies at Nos. 13 and 14, bringing your day total to 11-under and two strokes ahead of the pack. When he pulled his tee shot into the left rough at age sixteen, he had a fortunate break. A free drop from an animal burrow was given to him. nonetheless, he missed his 10-foot birdie putt. At No. 17, he had another decent look from 14 feet and was once again short. “My my goodness, it would have been very nice to have one of those final two because then I just have to birdie 18,” he whispered to himself as he stood on the 18th tee.