Wyndham Clark fronts up after Oakmont controversy

While keen to make the locker room situation a ‘thing of the past’, Wyndham Clark struggled to hide his frustration that the Oakmont ban was made public…

Wyndham Clark says it was a “no brainer” to pay for the damages after taking out his frustration on the Oakmont locker room.

After missing the cut at the US Open, pictures surfaced on social media of several damaged lockers at the Pennsylvania country club.

While Clark has been keen to move on from the situation, it once again came to a head during the build up to The Open when a letter from Oakmont president John Lynch banning clark from the property was made public.

Speaking to reporters after signing for a final-round 65 at Royal Portrush was keen to reiterate his previous apology.

“I feel terrible with what happened. I’m doing anything I can to try to remedy the situation,” he admitted.

“We’re trying to keep it private between Oakmont, myself and the USGA. I’m just happy we have a pathway moving forward, and I’m hoping we can get past this and move on and hope there’s no ill-will towards me and Oakmont.

“I’m just trying to get past it. I want the best for Oakmont, the USGA and myself. I’m very sorry for what I did and feel terrible, and hopefully in a few months we’re past this, and it’s something of the past.”

He added: “It’s a no-brainer to pay for the damages. That was a given. Then obviously all the apologies, and I want to give back to the community because I hurt a great place in Pittsburgh, so I wanted to do anything I can to show them that what happened there was not a reflection of who I am and won’t happen again. But I want to show them who I really am with the apology and the things I’m going to do.”

He was, however, struggling to hide his frustration that the matter had not been kept behind closed doors.

“We were hoping it was going to be private,” he said. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

Clark, who spoke about his anger management issues in an episode of the Netflix documentary, Full Swing, is now hoping he can learn from not only the Oakmont experience but when he was widely criticized at the PGA Championship for throwing his driver at an advertising hoarding.

“I’ve been pretty open about my mental shift and change to get better, and I did that in ’23 and ’24,” Clark explained. “And then having a tough year and all the expectations and frustration all coming together, I did two stupid things. But one thing that it did do is wake me up and get me back into the person I know I am and the person I want to be.

“I hope those things don’t reflect because I don’t think they reflect on who I am, and going forward that stuff is not going to happen again.

“I’m not going to justify what I did in those two things. But yes, it is very demanding. It’s an individual sport. Everyone is always watching you and it’s always on you.

“Sometimes it gets the best of you. All of us have had moments that we’re not proud of, and those two I’m definitely not proud of. So it is difficult.”

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