Wyndham Clark entered Sunday’s final round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson having not found the winner’s circle since February 2024 and with just a single top-10 finish over the last 14 months. Things have been bad for the former U.S. Open winner, but a final-round 60 to beat Scottie Scheffler and Si Woo Kim to earn a three-shot victory is a mighty impressive way to end a slump. His resume is officially a sight to behold.
As for TPC Craig Ranch, the Dallas golf course that Clark and the majority of the players in the field tore to shreds this week, its ‘debut’ could not have gone any worse.
The track underwent a $25 million renovation overseen by Lanny Wadkins in the last year in an endeavor to become more challenging to the best players in the world. Clark ultimately won at 30-under while seven other players ended the week at 20-under or better. The slander towards the course throughout the week was aplenty, and warranted.
TIGER WOODS REPORTEDLY RETURNS TO SWITZERLAND TO PRESUMABLY RESUME REHAB AFTER QUICK TRIP BACK TO FLORIDA
LIV Golf wasn’t in action, but those still in a position of power seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from new investors have reportedly been busy, and reportedly have a new pitch they’re throwing out there.
This is Par Talk, a weekly read to get you caught up on all the happenings that took place in professional golf that you need to know. You can follow Mark on X @itismarkharris and email him at [email protected]
Wyndham Clark adds to his eclectic collection
Quail Hollow, Los Angeles Country Club, Pebble Beach, and TPC Craig Ranch. You’d be hard-pressed to put together a list of four golf courses more different than one another, but those are the four tracks Clark has hoisted a trophy at in his PGA Tour career.
The pessimists out there will see Clark’s updated resume and simply chalk it up to complete randomness, but the proper way to look at it is that it shows he can get the job done at practically any style of golf course when his game is on.
In fact, that was the expectation for Clark after he outdueled Rory McIlroy to win the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023. It hasn’t panned out that way or resulted in consistent winning, but we are talking about a player who reached No. 3 in the world in April 2024. He’s plenty long off the tee and has shown flashes of an elite short game, but the difference maker for Clark has always been the putter.
When the flatstick is cold, which it has often been in recent years, it’s ice cold. When it’s on, as it was at TPC Craig Ranch, he turns into an absolute problem.
Clark led the field at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in strokes gained: putting for the week and picked up nearly 4.5 shots on the field on the greens alone in the final round on Sunday. When we’re talking about that sort of number, the 32-28 he put together en route to an 11-under 60 isn’t exactly unachievable.
WYNDHAM CLARK ADMITS HE ‘MADE A MISTAKE,’ EXPRESSES REGRET OVER US OPEN LOCKER ROOM TIRADE
The American put a new putter in the bag in April, and the putting numbers have improved mightily since the start of the season, and it undoubtedly all came together in Dallas this week.
The venue in which Clark finally got back into the winner’s circle will be a main character the golf world will understandably continue to pick on, but that should not take away from the fact that he simply played the track (far) better than anyone else. That group of anyone else included the No. 1 player in the world, who is overdue for a victory himself, yet Clark ignored that factor and put in what could be the most dominant final-round performance we see in 2026.
TPC Craig Ranch gets torn up in more ways than one
“(They) said they didn’t want 30 under winning the thing anymore, and I told them, don’t worry.”
That’s a direct quote from former PGA Championship winner Lanny Wadkins after being tapped as the man to oversee the $25 million renovation of TPC Craig Ranch. Yikes.
Scheffler won the 2025 CJ Cup Byron Nelson at Craig Ranch by eight shots at 31-under, officially sounding the alarms that significant changes must be made. Wadkins and his crew stepped in and spent well over $1 million per hole in a renovation, all for Clark to shoot a final-round 60 to win at 30-under.
We also can’t forget that Kim shot a second-round 60 himself despite a bogey on the 18th hole, and Scheffler nearly became the first player in PGA Tour history to complete a tournament without carding a five on a hole, until finally doing so on the Par 5 12th hole on Sunday.
In Wadkins’ defense, neither he nor the PGA Tour can control the weather. With significant rainfall to begin the week, the conditions were marshmallow soft, the ball was in hand for the players for the first three rounds, and wind gusts were basically nonexistent. The best players on the planet are always going to pick apart a golf course with those factors, which is exactly what unfolded.
From the perspectives of both the PGA Tour and the diehard fans who closely follow the sport, the new-look TPC Craig Ranch did not even begin to scratch any type of itch. For the fans on site, it looked like every person on the grounds was enjoying themselves, and for the membership and guests who play the track for years to come, it looks like challenging, enjoyable and aesthetically different than most other TPC tracks.
The Ranch — and the tournament itself — is just another subject presenting the question of what matters more: the Tour player and fan watching from home or the paying spectators and paying membership.
LIV Golf has a new plan
With the Saudis officially announcing that they will be cutting funding from LIV Golf at the conclusion of the 2026 season, the breakaway circuit needs new investors, and fast.
According to recent reports from Sportico and CNBC, the league has a new pitch for potential investors that is focused on a 10-event schedule that spans the globe. The 2026 LIV schedule includes 12 total events.
The league is reportedly seeking $250 million to $350 million to continue operations and is projecting profitability within three years. Predictably, this new-look pitch reportedly centers around fan turnout from LIV’s past events in Australia and South Africa, which were both major wins for the circuit.
There is also another report courtesy of Bloomberg claiming that LIV is laying the groundwork to potentially file for bankruptcy in the United States. The term ‘bankruptcy’ isn’t exactly the one a potential investor wants to see when the person at the other end of the negotiations is asking for hundreds of millions of dollars.
LIV’s next event is scheduled to take place in South Korea beginning on May 28, and that’s about all we or anyone else seems to know about the immediate and long-term future of the circuit.
LIV needs a life raft, one in the form of a mega yacht, but even if it gets it, who knows what players will get on board or jump into the waters seeking a return to the PGA Tour.
Read the full article here
