Wyndham Clark already is one of the most accomplished junior golfers to come down the pike in Colorado. At 16, he’s won two American Junior Golf Association tournaments, a 4A state high school championship and a CGA Junior Stroke Play title. He’s also made it to the round of 16 at the U.S. Junior Amateur, finished third at the Callaway Junior World Golf Championships, and is ranked among the top 20 junior players in the nation.
But this week may be a coming-out party for Clark in open-age amateur competition. On Tuesday, he qualified for his first U.S. Amateur, sharing medalist honors in the process. And after Saturday, he’s tied for the lead in the 74th CGA Stroke Play Championship at Boulder Country Club.
Despite making bogeys on his last two holes Saturday, the golfer from Cherry Hills Country Club shot a 4-under-par 66 to catch Colorado Springs Country Club’s Joshua Mathis, the sole leader after the first two rounds.
So what would it mean to Clark (pictured hitting out of a fairway bunker with Mathis in the background) if he continued his strong performance and won the Stroke Play on Sunday?
“It’s a big deal,” he said. “It feels like a national tournament because you have guys from Stanford like Steve (Ziegler, the defending champion) and all these different (colleges). It would be big to win at home because if you can’t win at home, then you probably can’t win nationally. Winning State Stroke Play would just be huge. To be a good player you’ve got to win at every level. This is just one of those levels.”
After three rounds, Clark stands at 7-under-par 203 along with Mathis, a sophomore-to-be at Biola University in southern California. The 19-year-old Mathis, who was four strokes ahead going into the weekend, managed a 70 on Saturday.
Steve Irwin of Lakewood Country Club, who’s very familiar with BCC as a former University of Colorado golfer, holds third place, three behind the leaders, after his second straight 69. The only other player under par after 54 holes is Jon Lindstrom of the Heritage at Westmoor, who recorded his second consecutive 70 for a 1-under 209 total.
Clark was in a groove for much of his round on Saturday. He was 5 under par through 10 holes and 6 under through 16 before dropping a couple of shots at the end. For the day, Clark finished with seven birdies on the day.
“He hits the ball so close to the hole every time; it’s just intimidating,” Mathis said. “He had it going. He was 5 under through 10. I was scared. The kid’s a bullet.”
Clark and Lindstrom finished in a tie for third place in last year’s CGA Stroke Play. They ended up five strokes behind Ziegler, but Clark led the tournament with nine holes remaining.
As for Mathis, he had a four-birdie, four-bogey round on Saturday — not quite up to the standards of his 65-68 to open the tournament. Overall for the day, he missed three putts of 5 feet or less. Things looked particularly bad when he trailed by two strokes and had hit into the water on the 17th hole, but Mathis salvaged a par and Clark finished with two bogeys to leave things deadlocked.
“I was in danger of falling way behind, but I’m still right there,” Mathis said. “Overall, I’m not unhappy, but I putted just terrible today.”
Irwin could have been even closer to the lead, but like Clark, he bogeyed the last two holes. Still, he remains hopeful of adding a Stroke Play title to the CGA Match Play championship he claimed in 2004.
“I know I’m due for a lot of birdies, and hopefully (Sunday) is when they come,” the golfer from Lakewood Country Club said. “I know I’m close, but I can’t press it. I’ve got to hit the shots and let the putts fall.”
In Lindstrom’s case, this marks the third consecutive year he’s been in the hunt for a CGA Stroke Play title. He placed second in 2008 and third last year.
After Saturday, Ziegler will need a near miracle to claim two straight Stroke Play Championships. He played his first seven holes in 3 under par, but went 5 over the rest of the way to finish with a 2-over 72. Particularly hard to swallow were two double bogeys in his last four holes. Ziegler’s 212 total leaves him nine strokes behind Clark and Mathis.
Tee times for Sunday’s final round will begin at 7:30 a.m., with Clark, Mathis and Irwin starting at 9:53.
