Two lost major champs have found something in Scotland.<\/p>\n
Wyndham Clark sat at the podium at TPC Sawgrass in March and bared part of his soul when discussing the course of his career since his tournament-tying putt on the 72nd hole of the 2024 Players Championship was denied. How his defining win at the 2023 U.S. Open caused the ground to shift beneath his feet, led expectations to grow and left him trying to find the joy that has since evaporated as his play slipped.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy biggest thing is kind of playing to my potential, and whether that changes each day and each tournament, but I get frustrated when I have lack of focus, or I get angry out there, or I\u2019m giving away shots or not playing to my potential,\u201d Clark said at Sawgrass. \u201cThose are things that frustrate me. When I am enjoying myself on the golf course, I feel like I\u2019m maximising those things. I\u2019m having fun with my caddie. I\u2019m really embracing the moment. Those are things I\u2019m trying to get back to because I think I play my best golf when I\u2019m in that state of mind. I\u2019m hoping I\u2019m there this week, and if not, I\u2019m hoping I\u2019m building towards getting there in the coming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t come at the Players, where he withdrew with a neck injury. Since a T5 finish at the Houston Open, Clark\u2019s season has been a complete dud filled with disappointing major performances and emotional blowups, including smashed lockers at Oakmont Country Club after a missed cut at the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n
Clark\u2019s apology the following week left a little to be desired as he tried to immediately turn the focus to \u201cmoving on.\u201d He finished T17 at the Travelers and then missed the cut at the Rocket Classic. Clark hasn\u2019t finished inside the top 15 since March, but he rolled into the Genesis Scottish Open at Renaissance Club and put together rounds of 66, 69 and 66 to post 9 under through three rounds and put himself two shots back of Rory McIlroy and Chris Gotterup heading into Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust being back in contention, to be honest,\u201d Clark said on Saturday after his round. \u201cI haven\u2019t had a great year, and I haven\u2019t been in contention very often. It\u2019s just nice to be back in this position, and let\u2019s see if I can go put a good round together and have four solid days of golf.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark entered the week 79th in the FedEx Cup standings. He has work to do to make the playoffs and secure his spot in the Signature Events next season. Per DataGolf\u2019s true Strokes Gained metric, Clark ranks 60th off the tee, 149th in approach and 76th in putting this season.<\/p>\n
The game just hasn\u2019t been there.<\/p>\n
This week, however, he ranks 14th off the tee and second in putting, although the iron game is still subpar (-3.231 on approach).<\/p>\n
Regardless, he\u2019ll go off Sunday in the final threesome with McIlroy and Gotterup with a chance to erase what has been a disappointing 15 months since fate rejected him at TPC Sawgrass.<\/p>\n
Clark isn\u2019t the only major champion who has found himself on the other side of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
One month after Clark opened up at the Players, Matt Fitzpatrick gave a brutally honest assessment of his game after the first round of the RBC Heritage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s rubbish, simple as that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been awful. Yeah, it\u2019s been the worst I\u2019ve ever played, in fact.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was wrong with the 2022 U.S. Open champ\u2019s game? The problem was that there was no simple answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cA bit of everything,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery week seems to throw something at me, putting bad or chipping bad. Mostly it\u2019s been the irons have not been good enough, and then obviously that puts pressure on everything else, as well. I\u2019ve actually driven it okay this year, and that\u2019s probably the only positive, but outside of that, everything else has not been good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old Fitzpatrick\u2019s last win came at the 2023 RBC Heritage. In 2024, his game tanked. He didn\u2019t register a win in 2024, carding only three top-10 finishes and landing at 40th in the FedEx Cup standings. Fitzpatrick struggled to start the season but flashed with a T8 finish at the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club. Some pedestrian finishes followed, but he, like Clark, has dug something out of the ancient turf in Scotland.<\/p>\n
Fitzpatrick has gone 69, 63 and 69 to post 9 under through three rounds and give himself a chance to track down the crowd favourite McIlroy on Sunday.<\/p>\n
While the recent results might not have suggested this was coming, Fitzpatrick could feel his game bubbling to the surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely,\u201d Fitzpatrick said when asked if his confidence was returning. \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about it. I feel more confident in my game and the shots that I\u2019m hitting. I definitely feel like there\u2019s been some good underlying performances that haven\u2019t necessarily equalled the results but I feel like that\u2019s one of those you\u2019ve got to stay patient and keep doing what you\u2019re doing if you feel like it\u2019s on the right track and that\u2019s where I feel like I\u2019m going.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the season, Fitzpatrick ranks 40th off the tee, 72nd in approach and 70th in putting. This week, Fitzpatrick is gaining more than two shots per round on approach and 5.8 on the greens; however, the driver (-0.073) remains squirrely.<\/p>\n
McIlroy will be the centre of attention on Sunday at the Renaissance Club. After taking two weeks off, McIlroy is finally feeling refreshed following a post-Masters win malaise.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my first realistic chance to win after the Masters, and I\u2019ve had a great season,\u201d McIlroy said on Saturday. \u201cI won at Pebble. I won the Players. I said this, when you do something that you\u2019ve been dreaming your whole life to do, it was a huge moment in my life, my career. I think I just needed that little bit of time. And to be back here for the last couple weeks, and feel like I could actually digest all of it, I feel like I came to this tournament with renewed enthusiasm and excitement for the rest of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while McIlroy will be the headliner of a Scottish Open Sunday, two lost major champions will be nipping at his heels, hoping that 18 good holes on the Scottish seaside can erase months of disappointment and frustration.<\/p>\n
This article originated on Golf.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two lost major champs have found something in Scotland. Wyndham Clark sat at the podium at TPC Sawgrass…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,34347,4884,49340,712,16,15,51628],"class_list":{"0":"post-261367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-genesis-scottish-open","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-matt-fitzpatrick","12":"tag-scotland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wyndham-clark"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114845512142171063","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}