Getty Images
Windham Clark opened the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship with a nervous bogey after sleeping on the lead for only the second time in his PGA Tour career.
However, by the time he finished, there were no signs of first hole jitters and he looked every bit the PGA Tour winner he was about to become.
After getting out even through nine holes, Clarke fired on a back nine, making four birdies in six holes, and turning what looked like a battle with Xander Schauffele into a comfortable four-put victory at 19-under-par.
“I’ve dreamed of this since I was probably six,” Clark said after the win. “Since you’ve been on the PGA Tour, you visualize it all the time, and I’ve done it a few times this year where I find myself daydreaming about winning. And doing it on this golf course against this competition is even better than I could have imagined.”
Not only was the win the first on the PGA Tour for Clark, the seventh-year pro from the University of Oregon, but his first as a pro. His most recent win came in the 2017 Pac-12 Tournament.
The win made him the eighth first-time PGA Tour winner of the season. He is also the second player to hack his way to his first win in a specific event after Kurt Kitayama’s victory over Bay Hill. He also joins an impressive list of players for their first win at Wells Fargo, including Max Homma, Ricky Fowler, Rory McIlroy and Anthony Kim.
It comes as Clarke was in the midst of his best season on the PGA Tour. He’s already had five top 10 players all year, good for 36th in the FedEx Cup standings coming into the week. Now he’s moving up to No. 5, his first time in the top 10 of his career.
Paired with Schauffele, who himself started the day 3rd clear of the rest of the course, Clarke’s lead quickly evaporated when the world No. 5 bogeyed the third hole and then took the lead straight with a birdie on the par-5.
This lead continued for one hole as Clark began his move with a birdie in the eighth before starting his back nine charge.
Earlier in the week, Clark spoke about his renewed focus on his mental game and strategy and was shown again on Sunday on the 14th hole. As Schauffele hit the green at 343 par-4 yards, as he did over 80 percent from the field this week, Clarke pulled out and put an iron. He made Birdie, his third of the week on the hole, to maintain a four-shot advantage.
“I’ve been in this situation a few times and it kind of prepared me for the day,” Clark said. “And obviously I hadn’t worked it out the previous times, but I kept relying on those experiences. And then just the things that I worked on, I felt like I did a great job.”
Added another on a 5 par-5 15 and blasted through the challenging Green Mile closure stretch in Quail Hollow. Not even shooting the bunker tee at 18 and the easy bogey can hamper him while grabbing the huge lead.