Wyndham Clark’s heartbreaking runner-up finish won’t erase rising star on and off the course

Wyndham Clark should have won his fourth PGA Tour title at TPC Sawgrass, but he watched the commanding lead he had carefully cultivated over the course of two and a half days evaporate.

However, the reigning U.S. Open champion demonstrated the kind of resolve that led him to achieve the incredible low-scoring round at the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach this past February by fighting back to get to one stroke behind Scottie Scheffler after hole 17.

It looked like he was going to do a birdie repeat when he hit a magnificent 16-foot putt on the last hole, only to watch his ball round the inside of the hole and reject his effort.

The heartbreak once again proved what a cruel sport golf can be sometimes.

“It was kind of right center with like a foot to go, and I knew it was going to keep breaking, but it had speed and I thought it was going to go inside left, and even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in,” Clark said, according to Golf Week. “I’m pretty gutted it didn’t go in.”

Scheffler ended up becoming the first PLAYERS champion to defend his title, finishing at 20-under.

Wyndham Clark proves his star on and off course after emotion PLAYERS runner-up

Despite the outcome which clearly left Clark devastated, he showed that he was all class afterward by taking time out with the fans, where he signed plenty of autographs with them, and showed very little of the disappointment that he surely must have felt.

In fact, he said spending time with them helped him mentally to recover.

What a serious class act. It’s especially impressive considering that there are golfers who suffered way less disappointment but have breezed past fans after an event (not naming names, but we know several of them).

He’s also gained a lot of admirers with his gracious behavior afterwards.

This on top of winning several fans with his demeanor witnessed on Netflix’s Full Swing Season 2.

“I'll take those positives. I played awesome in both weeks,” Clark said, who also came in second to Scheffler at the Arnold Palmer Invitational the week before, via Golf Digest. “I'll also take that I can play in the moment, in my moment against the best players in the world on the best golf courses. I almost birdied the last three at one of the most iconic golf courses.”

The next PGA event is the Valspar Championship starting March 21, in Palm Harbor, FL.