There is a very good reason that we are hearing and reading more about fan behaviour from last week’s tournament than the heroic performance of Wyndham Clark in winning a second US Open title in three years and the sensational way he handled a golf course as demanding as Shinnecock Hills.
It’s because this obnoxious way of treating players by spectators does not belong in golf.
It’s because the first thing that you learn in golf, from your coaches or your dads, is that you have to maintain a certain etiquette in this sport. That includes having the utmost respect for fellow golfers when you are playing and also for all competitors when you are watching.
In fact, etiquette in golf is so important that it is part of the first rule in the Rules of Golf.
Clark has made mistakes in the past, like smashing the locker room at Oakmont after missing the cut last year at the US Open. He apologised – took his own sweet time to do that – for his behaviour, but that was not the only occasion when he did not meet the decorum that the game demands.
There was a vicious club throw at the PGA Championship a month earlier, which came perilously close to hitting a volunteer, and accusations of improving the lie of his ball inside thick, greenside rough at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial tournament.
Clark has tried to mend his ways over the last year or so, but that did not matter to the Long Island crowd. As he opened a huge lead at the halfway stage, the fans gave him a verbal treatment. It worsened in Sunday’s final round as he was paired with Scottie Scheffler, with the world No1 trying to chase a career grand slam.
Throughout the round, there was muted cheering for his good shots, which was all right. But what was abhorrent was people shouting for him to get into trouble, miss the green and miss the putts – many of the shouts coming in the middle of his swing.
There are obvious concerns here. The US media is talking about it being targeted at an American player on American soil. They are also saying Long Island fans need to be taught a lesson, referring to the rowdy scenes witnessed at the Ryder Cup last year at Bethpage State Park.
That an American player was abused should not be the point of concern. That an elite golfer was, should have us all worried.
Unlike sports like football and rugby, where booing the opposition is part of the culture, golf has never been that way. One of the reasons for that is also the fact that, unlike most other sports, where players are ‘reacting’ at any given moment, the golf swing is unique because it ‘creates’ a moment.
So, a stadium jeering Ronaldo when he is trying to trap a ball is way different from Rory McIlroy trying to hit a tee shot. Also, golf fans are blessed that they can be so close to the action that the players can hear most of what they are saying. In most other sports, the player will never be able to discern ‘Get into the bunker’ at the top of their golf swing because of the ambient noise.
The fact that Clark won despite all this needs to be celebrated. Love him or hate him, the man is a baller.
We have known that for some time. You do not win a US Open if you are not mentally strong.
I also love the story of him going to play the 2013 US Amateur at The Country Club in Brookline. That was less than 10 days after he lost his mother, Lise, to breast cancer. Clark was very close to his mom and distraught. But Lise wanted him to play the tournament, so he went. He did not win, but he qualified for the match play with rounds of 71 and 68.
That was the day when he won a battle against himself.
On Sunday, it felt he won a battle against the whole world.
To win a golf tournament is difficult. To win against the world’s elite is even more difficult. But to lead for all four days on a golf course like Shinnecock Hills, and then protect that lead in the pressure cooker-like situation of a major championship Sunday, it was a truly a Herculean task
What really helped Clark focus and win? It’s what his caddie, David Pelekoudas, said before hitting almost every shot: ‘Good process’.
Clark was asked what was a ‘good process’?
“My process is picking the correct club, trusting that club, being assertive, having my intermediate target, and then pulling the trigger. Have it be very simple and lack clutter in my brain,” he explained. “So, every time he reminded me that I get back into the shot rather than maybe the moment or that I just made a bogey or someone else makes birdie. It gets me back into, ‘Hey, this is what I do to hit a good shot, and I would do it’.”
Ask any golfer and 99 per cent of them would say having a process is key to doing well in the sport. It stops your mind from wandering and helps you concentrate 100% on the task at hand.
That was also the key to how Clark beat the Long Island crowd and a devilish Shinnecock Hills.
