Wyndham Clark blasts late third-round US Open start times
Wyndham Clark is happy he’s tied for the lead with Rickie Fowler at 10-under heading into Sunday’s final round of the U.S. Open.
But he wasn’t happy with how late the round finished.
The 29-year-old Clark played in the final group with Fowler on Saturday, but their round didn’t start until 3:40 Pacific time (6:40 Eastern), and the duo finished as the sun was clearly setting.
The first pairing that just made the cut didn’t start their round until 9:33 Pacific, which Clarke felt could have been an hour and a half or two hours earlier.
“It’s a little ridiculous that we teed off that late,” Clark said. “I would say right around hole 15 or 16 it started getting to where you couldn’t see that well. I mean, I don’t personally understand why we teed off — we played twilight golf.
Clark — who said Friday he’s not trying just to win the U.S. Open for himself but also for his late mother, Lise, who died of breast cancer in 2013 — said their scores were affected by playing in near darkness.
“At the end, it was — the last two holes I 100 percent think my bogey on 17 was because I couldn’t see, and I think Rickie’s bogey on 18 (after a missed 5-footer for par) was because he couldn’t see.”
Wyndham Clark hits a tee shot on the 18th hole in the third round of the U.S. Open. Getty Images
“I’m not trying to make an excuse, but it definitely was a challenge,” he said. “[Holes] 17 and 18, my putt on 17, I literally couldn’t see it, and we just played off of feel and how Rickie’s putt came in. And then my putt on 18, same thing. John was like, ‘Well, it’s kind of around here. Make sure you hit it soft because we need to — we don’t want to blow this by. We need a tap-in coming in.’
“So it’s kind of tough and it’s crazy to think that we’re doing that on the last two holes of a major when we could have teed off two hours earlier. Hopefully tomorrow we don’t have that issue.”
Clark is not naive and knows a West Coast U.S. Open — or any other major — gives Fox Sports and other networks a chance to get the most eyeballs watching the tournament, but said it shouldn’t come at the cost of potentially having a direct negative outcome on the event.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s TV, but it’s — what is it, midnight on the East Coast? Personally I don’t quite understand it. I know we’re West Coast and whatnot and I know [TV] probably have the say, but I would like to think that they would step in and be like, ‘Hey, we want to make sure it’s in the light and we have time.’
“Definitely Rickie and I had a little bit of a disadvantage on those last two holes playing in the dark.”
Clark and Fowler will be teeing off at 2:30 p.m. Pacific (5:30 p.m. Eastern), 70 minutes earlier on Sunday, but that’s only because TV is accounting for a playoff.
Rickie Fowler reacts after missing a 5-foot par putt on the 18th hole in the third round of the U.S. Open. AP
Ryo Ishikawa will the first player to tee off at 8:23 Pacific as a single, but that’s still fairly late for a major tournament.
It means there is a chance that a playoff, which is a two-hole one in the U.S. Open, also could run into some twilight problems to finish the event on Sunday, especially if there would be more than two players in the playoff.
Despite his annoyance with the lateness of the round, Clarke stood up to the pressure of being in contention in his first major and will get to play in the final group with Fowler again, thanks to a birdie on the 18th hole.
“I’m not a huge scoreboard watcher, but walking up there [on 18] I kind of knew where we were at and I really wanted to be in that final group,’’ said Clark, who is in contention for the first time in a major. “Every shot matters out here. Making bogey [on 17] didn’t cost us the tournament, and it actually was one of the biggest points of today.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of emotion. It’s a U.S. Open and I wanted to be in that final group.’’
Source: New York Post
