Wyndham Clark achieved a Sawgrass milestone that even Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus were unable to earn. Only yesterday, Clark chased down Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele to take his share at the top of the leaderboard. The reigning US Open champion showed no signs of slowing down on Friday, shooting 7-under-65 once again. And, with that, Clark has a unique record at THE PLAYERS Championship all by himself.
Wyndham Clark is the first player to shoot 65 or lower in each of the first two rounds, stats guru Justin Ray tweeted. Ray further revealed that Clark had hit “23 of his last 26 greens in regulation entering the weekend at TPC Sawgrass.” At THE PLAYERS Championship, the three-time PGA Tour winner is leading the field in greens in regulation, hitting 31 of 36 greens. In addition, the 30-year-old is also the leader at SG: Total and SG: Putting.
Comparably, Tiger Woods’s best first-round score was 10-under-134 in 2013, at the time of his second victory at TPC Sawgrass. Surprisingly, that was also the only time the 15-time Major champion broke 70 in his first round. Tiger Woods is one of the only six players to have won more than one THE PLAYERS Championship title.
Jack Nicklaus, with three, still tops the chart. But even the Golden Bear could not score two consecutive rounds under 65. Nicklaus’s lowest first-round score was 66 at the 1974 and 1976 THE PLAYERS Championships. However, none of that came at the TPC Sawgrass. In his first outing at Pete Dye Layout, the 18-time major winner missed the cut.
In fact, Greg Norman, in his history-shattering 1994 victory, shot 9-under 63 and 5-under 67 in the first two rounds. The Great White Shark still has the lowest score at 24-under through four rounds. Whereas, Jason Day shot 63 and 66 to card 15 under in 2016, the lowest first-two-round score at THE PLAYERS Championship. Webb Simpson in 2018 shot 66 and 63 to post 15 under as well.
Moreover, Sergio Garcia, the highest earner at THE PLAYERS Championship, having made 21 cuts, has a best opening round of 65 in 2021. But he followed that up with a 72. Evidently, Clark has edged past a number of big names at the 50th edition of THE PLAYERS Championship.
The first question shot off in his way was about the historic round at TPC Sawgrass. How does he feel? “I mean, that’s pretty cool. I guess I’ve been breaking some records recently, which is pretty neat. More than anything, I’m just super excited that kind of had a ho-hum front nine and then turned and really just got into a nice zone and felt really good on the greens and shot an awesome number,” Wyndham Clark said in the second-round press conference.
Clark set the course record at Pebble Beach last month. The reigning US Open champion shot 12-under-60 in the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The final round was canceled due to inclement weather. As a result, Clark was crowned the eventual winner at the $20 million purse signing event.
However, the competition will be tougher at Ponte Vedra, with Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, and Xander Schauffele all chasing him on the cut day. Stay tuned to find out how the final round of the fifth major turns out!
