Wyndham Clark is getting hot at the right time, and had it not been for getting professional help, it may never have happened.
It's been a solid 12 months for Clark – entering the Wells Fargo Championship last May, he had just nine top-10 finishes, with zero wins. Well, he won that event, then won the U.S. Open the following June, which he parlayed into an appearance for the United States Ryder Cup team.
He has carried his success from last year to this year – thanks to a course-record, third-round 60 at Pebble Beach in January, he won the weather-shortened event, and had it not been for a red-hot Scottie Scheffler (and a heartbreaking lip-out on Sunday at The Players), he could have won back-to-back weekends this month.
According to the PGA's website, Clark has earned over $23.5 million in career prize money – over $18 million of that has come since last season. But he had some serious work to do to get to his current state.
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Clark's mother died from breast cancer while he was playing at Oklahoma State, and when his career didn't start out as many expected (his first win came at age 29, while one of his contemporaries, Jordan Spieth, had multiple majors at age 21), the walls started to cave in.
But, as Netflix's "Full Swing" highlighted, Clark, reluctantly, began to see a sports psychiatrist. And since then, "it's been an awesome journey."
"In golf, I was so focused on outcome and results. I wasn’t getting results – now I’m focused on making myself better and growing mentally both on and off the course," Clark said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. "Now, I’m getting the results and the outcomes I want.
"It’s an interesting dynamic, it’s been really fun, because now I’m really pursuing the process and not so much the results. It makes for a more enjoyable life for me. It’s great on the course now and great off the course. I’ve been really happy that I’ve tackled that and made it an effort to get better in the mental game."
Clark admits he hasn't seen the "Full Swing" episode, though, and it's not in the plans. "I know exactly what happens," he jokes, adding that he will never be comfortable hearing himself talk.
"Maybe down the road. Maybe when there are some dark days and I need something to lift me up or a reminder or something, maybe I’ll watch it and it’ll motivate me," he says.
But right now, he doesn't need much motivation. He has quite the ability to get hot, as shown by his recent results. He attributes that to all the work he's put in toward the mental side of such a grueling sport.
"When things are going good, I keep them going good," he says. "I think a lot of that is a testament to all the work I’ve done in the mental side of things. When I feel those positive vibes and all those good things, I just have them keep going. I’ll keep telling myself good things will continue to happen, and I’m going to continue to make putts. I try not to put a ceiling on myself and just let it go. It’s kind of been fun of late, because when I get on these runs, the hole looks huge, and it feels like I’m going to birdie every hole, which is really fun."
A little bourbon on the course doesn't hurt, either.
Clark recently partnered with Blade and Bow Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, and fans will get a chance to win a round with the pro in the "19th Hole with Blade and Row."
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"I’ve always enjoyed bourbon," he said. "As I was able to drink, I’ve always enjoyed it. For a long time. I’ve always liked my drink neat, I always had it typically around a fire after fishing, after golf. I was really excited with Blade and Bow reached out to me and they wanted to branch out into golf.
"What their ideas that they had, which were really awesome, which was bringing bourbon into golf and making it a drink you can enjoy in the summertime, wintertime, after playing golf, after winning, after hanging out just socially with friends. That’s what so great about bourbon, is you can have it so many different ways, and enjoy it with tons of different people in different atmospheres. I’m really excited with the partnership and happy to see where it goes. Hopefully it turns out to be a long relationship."
And, if things go Clark's way, he can have a whole hell of a lot of Blade and Bow on the evening of April 12 after hopefully winning a green jacket at The Masters.
Understandably so, he's pretty confident he can tear up Augusta National.
"I don’t think I’d change too much. I’ve been playing good golf, and I feel my game suits Augusta National," he said. "You gotta time it right with your game that you’re in a good spot with your game, and then you just hope you can handle the moment. I’m super excited to, one, be there, but hopefully have a chance to content on the back nine on Sunday."
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