PINEHURST, N.C. — A year ago, Wyndham Clark was a 29-year-old pro on the PGA Tour still trying to find his way, trying to find a way to win as he went to the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte.

A year later, his introduction Thursday on the first tee at Quail Hollow Club will be: “The defending Wells Fargo champion and the 2023 U.S. Open champion …”

Life comes at you fast in sports. It did for Clark, who made the 2023 Wells Fargo his first tour win, used that added battle-tested confidence to get him through the U.S. Open and then won again at Pebble Beach in early February this year.

Clark has zoomed to third in the World Golf Ranking. The Denver native played on the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team. He has become financially set, his name a lot better known.

“It has been a crazy year,” Clark said Monday. “I went from 150th in the world, no wins, to now three wins and a major championship. Yeah, it’s been an amazing year and I achieved a lot of the goals I had in such a short time.

“I had learned a lot of ways to not win. There was a lot of hard work and sweat and tears and anger and frustration for four or five years leading up to winning at Quail Hollow.”

Pit stop at Pinehurst

Clark made a stop in Pinehurst for a few days before heading to Charlotte. The U.S. Open is again being hosted by Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, again being played on the No. 2 Course, and Clark wanted another looksee at the famed course with the championship roughly a month away.

Clark said he was 15 years old when he last played No. 2, and on a hot, sticky summer day.

His impression now, after a round Sunday?

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