Say what you want about Wyndham Clark, but there is no question that the 2023 US Open champion is not afraid to make headlines.
The 2025 season was a difficult and disappointing one for Wyndham Clark. His performances on the golf course were nothing to write home about, with just two top 10s on the PGA Tour.
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Instead, Clark’s year will likely be remembered for angry outbursts at both the PGA Championship and the US Open. And Clark’s apology for his conduct at Oakmont was far from impressive.
And the 32-year-old has now made the news for being one of the only PGA Tour players to publicly question how difficult it was for Brooks Koepka to come back.
Wyndham Clark one of the only PGA Tour players to publicly question Brooks Koepka’s return
Koepka’s decision to leave LIV Golf and return to the PGA Tour led to the Returning Member Program being created. The 35-year-old has certainly not come back without paying a price.
Koepka reportedly paid $30 million to get out of his LIV contract one year early. He will also make a $5 million donation to charity, while he will not be eligible for the PGA Tour equity program for the next five years.
Nevertheless, Clark has suggested that he would have likely joined LIV himself had he known what it would take to come back to the PGA Tour in the future.
In fairness, the three-time winner on tour is almost certainly not alone in feeling that Koepka has got away with little more than a slap on the wrist.
But it is interesting that he is the one who has spoken out.
The PGA Tour has given Clark what he asked for back in 2024
Firstly, Clark insisted Koepka was among the players who should play wherever he wants back in 2024. He clearly felt that certain players should be welcomed back into the fold given the success they have previously had.
But it should also not be forgotten that Clark made some comments earlier that year that landed him in fairly hot water.
He suggested that he would like to see the PGA Tour limited to just 100 players with 20 players being relegated each year.
“I think it would be amazing if our tour was 100 guys, and I kind of said this a few times, a hundred guys and we have 20 guys that get relegated every time, every year, doesn’t matter who you are. It would be exciting,” he said.
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Unsurprisingly, Clark received a lot of criticism considering that he would have lost his card as recently as 2021 under his own system.
He had won the US Open in 2023, while he made his Ryder Cup debut later that year. So it was far from a good look from Clark to immediately call for a tour that not only massively benefitted the top players, but pretty much shut the door on the large majority of those looking to break through.
What Clark appears to have not realised is Koepka’s return is a sign that he is getting something he wished for – one set of rules for the best players in the world.
What the Returning Member Program confirms about the PGA Tour’s priorities
The PGA Tour clearly unveiled the Returning Member Program for Koepka’s benefit. There seemed to be no talk of bringing Henrik Stenson or Andy Ogletree back following their relegation.
Clark himself noted that Koepka’s return will benefit the PGA Tour. So it made little sense to shut the door on the five-time major champion.
It would have represented the PGA Tour cutting its nose off to spite its face.
But those at Ponte Vedra were prepared to make life a lot easier for the likes of Koepka, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith.
It seems remarkable to think that Koepka will be teeing it up at a PGA Tour event little more than a month after his LIV Golf exit was announced.
It is, unfortunately, a simple fact that the PGA Tour has to cater to its biggest stars in this current era when the threat of LIV Golf is unlikely to go anywhere.
That is something Clark was calling for within a year of winning one of the game’s biggest prizes.
So perhaps he should not be upset that the goalposts have been moved to enable Koepka to make such a swift return.
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