U.S. Open winner through the eyes of his high school coaches

BY JOHN RENFROW JRENFROW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Justen Byler, the head golf coach at Valor Christian High School, said it’s no accident Wyndham Clark faced intense pressure head-on to win the U.S. Open golf tournament last week. Byler felt a rst major championship was going to come sooner or later for Clark.

“We felt pretty con dent that it was coming,” Byler said. “If you really look back over the last seven months, and really this whole [PGA Tour] season, he has experienced a ton of success, and it’s been growing over the last few seasons. He’s had seven top 10s, he’s only missed one cut since October, and he’s just playing more and more consistent golf.”

A 2012 Valor Christian alum, Clark was able to fend o Rory McIlroy, Ricky Fowler, and the world’s No. 1 golfer, Scottie Sche er, in the nal round to seal the victory on June 18.

With an even-70, Clark’s 10-under total of 270 bested McIlroy by one stroke at e Los Angeles Country Club. Prior to his victory, Clark never nished higher than 75th in a major championship, and had missed the U.S. Open cut twice prior to winning.

According to ESPN, he is just the fourth golfer in the last 100 years to win the U.S. Open the week of his rstmade cut. Clark earned a $3.6 million paycheck with the win.

He dedicated the victory to his late mother.

“My mom lived in L.A.,” Clark told “ e Today Show.”

“I had people throughout the week come up to me and show me pictures, which was so cool. It just created this vibe where I was like, ‘Man, I really feel the presence of my mom here.”’ e victory comes a month after Clark won the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina in early May, his rst PGA Tour victory.

Byler said Clark has turned a corner over the last year in how he’s mentally approaching the game.

He recalled coaching Clark, not in golf, but on the Valor basketball team at the Highlands Ranch high school. Even as a point guard, Clark showed some unique attributes that are common in all-time great athletes, Byler said.

“When you have generational talents, you notice some things about the way they approach their sport and the competitive nature that they have. He was like that in basketball and in golf,” Byler said.

Back then, Clark split time between the court and the course. It was before Byler took over the school’s golf program from Jason Preeo, who recalls Clark’s inquisitiveness as a student of the game is what has always separated him from others.

“ at’s the thing that I tell everybody about him that people don’t realize,” Preeo said. “He’s just always trying to learn and ask questions about this shot or that shot, and get better and get di erent points of view, and have a better understanding of things. at’s what set him apart; he worked harder and wanted to learn more than anyone else.”

Preeo was Valor’s golf coach for nine years until 2018 and is now a golf instructor at the Metagolf Learning Center in Sheridan.

Preeo, a long-time golf coach, said he noticed Clark was better than even older, college-level golfers.

“It was pretty obvious early on that he was going to be really good,” Preeo said. “I had just never been around [the typical] ‘child prodigy’ before to say with any conviction, ‘Yeah, this kid is denitely gonna make it.’ But if you would have said, ‘Are you willing to bet on it happening?’ I would have told everybody he’s going to be out there and probably doing it for a long time and doing it really well.”

Byler expected Clark to contend in the U.S. Open, and his play has been speaking for itself recently, but it’s always a blessing and a surprise when he’s able to actually clinch the victory, Byler said. ey don’t come easy.

“When he nally broke through (at the Wells Fargo), he showed some signs that his mental game in addition to the skillset he had was kind of making a turn. I’m not sure anybody ever anticipates following that up with a U.S. Open championship or a major win. You’ve seen a lot of really great people either never win or struggle to continue to get wins, because there’s only four of them a year,” Byler said.

On the “Pat McAfee Show” on June 20, Clark said he hired someone to help with his mental health on and o the course.

When you get to the highest level of any sport, the di erence-makers are those that work the hardest and have the strongest mental approach, he said. It’s all between the ears in the end.

Clark admitted to neglecting his mental game for too long until recently, despite his high school coaches’ praise on his approach. But