Wyndham Clark won the Wells Fargo Championship by four shots over Xander Schauffele with a score of 68, marking his first victory on the PGA TOUR. When 29-year-old Clark sunk a bogey putt on the 18th hole to secure the victory, he found it difficult to contain his tears.
Only three-time champion Rory McIlroy’s 21-under 267 in 2015, when the course’s par was 72, was lower than Clark’s final total of 19-under 265 in the history of the competition. At 12 under, Tyrrell Hatton and Harry English shared for third place with Tommy Fleetwood and Adam Scott, one stroke ahead of them. Max Homa, the defending winner, shared for ninth place at 9-under 275 after shooting 70 on Sunday.
American Indian Akshay Bhatia (73) finished T-43, while Sahith Theegala (73) ended T-53. Clark, the world’s 80th-ranked player, opened the final round with a two-shot lead, surrendered it to Schauffele after seven holes, and then stormed back to win after playing the final 11 holes in 4 under.
Clark has been in great form. He had finished in the top six in three of the last five tournaments he’d entered, including a third-place finish at the Zurich Classic last month. McIlroy, playing for the first time since missing the cut at the Masters, played the final three rounds at 3-over par, including a 72 on Sunday to finish even par for the tournament.
