Wyndham Clark has withdrawn from The Players Championship after playing only 27 holes.
The 2023 U.S. Open champion called it quits after shooting a 4-over 40 on the front nine, which included a double-bogey seven on the par-5 2nd. He also had a pair of three putts on the par-3 3rd and par-4 5th holes and no birdies to show.
The PGA Tour did not initially explain why Clark withdrew, but then cited a neck injury. At the time of his early exit, he sat at 4-over par for the championship — well below the projected cut-line of even par.
Clark entered this week with 60-to-1 odds to win, tied with Corey Conners for having the 15th best odds of this week’s 144-man field.
His last victory came at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February 2024. Clark then finished runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at TPC Sawgrass one month later.
The former Oregon Duck’s best finish thus far in 2025 came at The Sentry, where he tied for 15th. He most recently posted a T-22 at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and even held the first round lead all by himself. But he struggled over the weekend.
Then, ahead of this week’s Players, Clark talked about living up to lofty expectations, and how frustrating that can be.
“It’s funny how you have success and you win a major, you win some tournaments, and then everyone expects you to do that all the time. Scottie [Scheffler] is doing that all the time, and it’s very impressive, but no one else is really doing that,” Clark said.
“It’s put some undue pressure, I feel like, on me specifically because if I went and I made all four cuts in the majors and contended one time, that’s actually not that bad, or if I missed three of the cuts and finished fourth at one of the majors, I would have taken that three years ago. It’s tough because sometimes your expectations get skewed by the media or outside people. I’m just trying to get back into playing good golf and enjoying it and not raising those expectations because they have been raised a little bit. I feel like it’s hurt me a little bit.”
Unfortunately for Clark, his best golf did not show up this week at TPC Sawgrass.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
