Wyndham Clark’s US Open win wasn’t met with the reception he might have liked at Shinnecock Hills.
In an environment we have never really seen before, especially not for an American at a US Open, the crowd were rooting hard against Clark. Every mistake was met with applause, every shot met with “get in the bunker”. It was a wild reception from the New York crowd.
Clark brought much of this onto himself. Last year he acted so poorly that the golfing world turned on him, and despite his attempts to reclaim some affection, golf fans haven’t yet forgiven him.
But that’s been made infinitely worse by the media’s narrative on the two-time US Open winner all week.
Why Wyndham Clark can blame the media for US Open reception
Golf fans didn’t need much of an excuse to dislike Clark this week. A year on from damaging the locker room at Oakmont, it didn’t sit right with many people that he’d win the next US Open. But the reaction to Clark seemed disproportionate, and the media did nothing to help matters.
The narrative that surrounded Clark the moment he rose to the top of the leaderboard was infuriating. Clark has clearly made mistakes and has some issues. He’s human, that’s fine. The mistakes aren’t the problem here.
Firstly, it never really felt like he properly faced the music for all of his past mistakes. He’s only just started to own the Oakmont incident now, and he was trying to deflect it all at the time. And even now, in the same breath as accepting responsibility, he’s telling us all how much he’d like to move on.
But that’s not Wyndham’s call. Of course, he would like to move on, but he doesn’t get to dictate that. It comes across as inauthentic. It’s a PR move. But at this point, the issue isn’t really with Wyndham anymore. When you put it all into perspective, he’s not done anything horrendously wrong, so why do people feel so strongly?
That’s the fault of the media. Clark should be furious at them. All week, there was a weird Wyndham Clark PR fest. It was so off-putting.
How did you feel about the New York crowd’s treatment of Wyndham Clark?
The broadcast kept telling viewers to feel sorry for Wyndham. He’s misunderstood, and they should move on and forgive him. Maybe fans would have been inclined to feel that way if they were allowed to come to that conclusion themselves, but why are television presenters telling fans how to feel about this? Why do they get to be the moral compass on this?
Which other golfer would have to be winning this tournament for their psychologist to become a main character of this story? Are you telling us he’s that much of a headcase that it’s just a crowning achievement that someone has been able to keep him on the rails for a year? Is that what we’re saying?
Because that makes people want to root for him less, not more. That’s not a Wyndham Clark problem; that’s a PR issue. The propaganda was just so off-putting.
Usually, these things live online. Clark would get slammed on social media, but it doesn’t reflect how people really feel. So Sunday was jarring. It became clear that this is how people really feel, and all of this Wyndham Clark PR just hadn’t worked.
Wyndham Clark’s reception was a consequence of his actions
During Sunday’s play, the TV coverage continued throughout the day, telling fans how unfair all this was, but actually, this was the fairest thing that has happened to Clark in years. I think we’ve all felt that his actions have gone unpunished, but this was the consequence.
Everything he’s done, all of his behavior, came back to bite him in his crowning moment. The chickens came home to roost. No one was in his corner, and that’s sort of what he deserved. You’re going to act like that? Fine. Don’t expect people to like you.
His biggest career accomplishment to date, winning a US Open at Shinnecock Hills, was tarnished by public opinion. And that’s totally fair. But he’s probably paid the price now.
Even after winning the tournament, he owned it. He didn’t whine and moan about not getting the reception he wanted. He said people didn’t want me to win; that’s fine, I respect that. And that’s exactly the right approach.
In the end, the only person not telling us to like Wyndham Clark was Wyndham Clark, and that’s admirable.
Hopefully, this is the first step towards a new chapter. As for the broadcasters, stop telling fans how to feel about him. It’s actually making all of this worse.
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