Wyndham Clark's U.S. Open tantrum is as disrespectful to golf as it gets

Wyndham Clark is a U.S. Open champion, but he certainly didn't behave like one — or even like a respectable golf pro — after he failed to make the cut at vaunted Oakmont Country Club. Rather than losing with class or, you know, playing better, the 31-year-old instead shot a second-round 74, putting him at 8-over for the tournament and causing him to miss the stroke by one, which then led to him going into the Oakmont locker room and reportedly destroying lockers and other property.

According to Tron Carter of No Laying Up, Clark "got after it" in the Oakmont locker room. While his initial report on the matter didn't offer any specifics, Carter followed up with a picture of two lockers in the historic clubhouse that, assumedly, Clark had smashed in the face of following his blow-up on the course.

This isn't the first outburst that Clark has had either, including just one month ago at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow when the 2023 U.S. Open winner at LACC destroyed a T-Mobile sign behind a tee box following an errant drive by chucking his driver full-force into it.

Wyndham Clark destroys Oakmont locker room after U.S. Open meltdown

Make no mistake, the U.S. Open at Oakmont has brought out frustrations in many players, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry among them, but not limited to just those two stars. However, it's one thing to mutter obscenities on a hot mic or even take out a tee marker with a swipe of a driver. It's another thing entirely to show your ass in the locker room by damaging one of the most historic properties in golf.

Look, I understand entirely that the whole moniker and vibe around golf being a "gentleman's game" can get quite tiring to many fans and people who just hear that type of talk. However, that is where the sport is rooted in. And you know what sure as hell isn't of that ilk? Bashing private property that's been around for more than 100 years at this point. That's juvenile and childish, which is what Clark's reaction to this was.

More importantly, I'm always going to come down on the side of, if you're going to show your ass like that, then maybe just play better. Sure, Clark has a U.S. Open title to his credit. It also came on one of the most widely panned venues in recent U.S. Open memory. So, if you got a bad break on the course, especially one like Oakmont, that'd be one thing to be upset about. But Clark simply didn't play well, ranking outside the Top 100 over two rounds in both SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Approach. If you're mad at anyone, Wyndham, be mad at yourself.

Will Wyndham Clark be suspended for his U.S. Open tantrum?

This is the million-dollar question after Clark's outburst in the Oakmont locker room but, unfortunately, there isn't an easy answer. Not only is the U.S. Open governed by the USGA, a completely different group than the PGA Tour, but the tour itself is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to things like suspensions. That is to say, there have been numerous suspensions in PGA Tour history that simply weren't publicly reported by the tour itself, which is unlike basically any other professional sports league.

With that being said, if anything warranted a suspension, it's something like this. Rory bashing a tee marker or even Clark previously throwing the driver at the PGA Championship were unbecoming to golf but could be quelled with a slap on the wrist or a stern word. Damaging a locker room, especially at a place as historic as Oakmont, is well beyond that in orders of magnitude. Some type of consequence certainly needs to come from this, especially with what's not becoming a pattern with Clark and his outbursts.