Wyndham Clark achieved a career-high in achievement and prize money when he set a -19 championship mark at the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship.
Clark lifts the Wells Fargo Championship Cup. Photo: Twitter / Wyndham_Clark
The Wells Fargo Championship concluded at the par-71 Quail Hollow course on the morning of May 8, Hanoi time. Clark shot 265 to finish first at -19. Compared to the course par, Clark scored -19, not the lowest score in the history of the tournament since 2003, when Rory McIlroy set the record of -21 in 2015. But at that time, Quail Hollow was a par-72 course, and McIlroy hit 267 shots over four rounds. This year, the course was converted to a par-71 course. And so, Clark, with 265 strokes, became the new record holder for total strokes over 20 tournaments.
The 2023 prize pool is set at $20 million, with the Wells Fargo Championship joining the PGA Tour as a special event. Of that budget, Clark will take home $3.6 million for his first victory in 134 tournaments at the top American golf tournament. Meanwhile, Clark has earned $7.405 million over the past four years, with the most coming from a T10 finish at the Phoenix Open three months ago, $485,000.
On his journey to win the Wells Fargo Championship, Clark almost achieved a more difficult feat than a hole-in-one in round 3. If converted to size, he was just over half a golf ball short.
Clark played his penultimate hole on the green in par for all 17 holes. On the 18th hole, he hit a tee shot to the left of the fairway, 171 yards from the flag. After the 29-year-old American hit his second shot, the ball stopped 5.1 meters from the hole, most of it not even over the edge of the green.
Clark's tee shot stopped just off the green.
In that position, the PGA Tour recorded Clark as out of green (GIR) on hole 18. If he had achieved a GIR for the entire round, he would have achieved the rarer achievement of "one shot and one hole".
According to statistician Lou Stagner, the probability of making a GIR for all 18 holes on the PGA Tour is 1/582 rounds, while the possibility of a hole-in-one is 1/563 rounds.
Clark finished hole 18 round 3 with a par, thereby taking the top spot with a score of -16, followed by Xander Schauffele -14.
In fact, in the final round, Clark was most afraid of Schauffele. After seven holes, Schauffele took the lead, reaching -16 while Clark was down to -15. However, Clark moved to T1 with Schauffele thanks to a birdie on hole 8 and his opponent kept par.
Clark played more solidly on the next nine holes, making four birdies and no bogeys, while Schauffele faltered. And after a bogey on 18, Clark settled for -19, four shots ahead of Schauffele, and finished T3 at -12. Schauffele earned $2.18 million, T3 $1.18 million.
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