Another low-scoring week at TPC Craig Ranch ended with Clark surging up the leaderboard Sunday to top Si Woo Kim and Scottie Scheffler
During a week where everyone took it deep, no one took it deeper than Wyndham Clark. Closing with a tournament-low 11-under 60 in the final round, Clark commandeered the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which appeared destined to fall into the hands of Si Woo Kim. Instead, Clark finished the tournament at TPC Craig Ranch at 30 under and three strokes clear of the aforementioned Dallas resident.
Clark’s 60 is the lowest final round by a winner this season (previously 64), and it came courtesy of a back-nine 28 that featured five birdies and an eagle. Only David Duval and Stuart Appleby’s final-round 59s en route to victory are lower than Clark’s in PGA Tour history.
The win represents Clark’s first since the shortened 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the first across 72 holes since his major victory at the 2023 U.S. Open. He pushes his career total to four victories while pushing his name well up the FedEx Cup standings.
Entering the event No. 82 in the season-long race and on the outside looking into the signature events, Clark climbs all the way up to No. 34 with the triumph. The win puts his name into the fields at the Memorial in two weeks’ time, as well as the Travelers Championship the week following the U.S. Open.
Clark began the final day outside Dallas in the penultimate pairing as Kim and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler stood in front. He was T2 alongside Scheffler, two back of Kim, who previously registered a 60 in the second round.
Known for his power, Clark this week relied on his touch as every putt he stroked appeared destined to find the bottom of the cup. He rolled in a 23-foot birdie bid on No. 2 to kick off the festivities and kept the pedal down with three straight birdies from Nos. 4-6 to inch closer to Kim.
Kim did not relinquish the lead easily. The 36- and 54-hole leader made four birdies in his first seven holes as well before blinking around the turn. He added birdies on Nos. 11 and 12 to maintain at least a share of the lead before Clark seized control of the tournament.
After driving the green on the short par-4 14th and converting a stress-free birdie, Clark dialed up a long-distance connection from 45 feet on the par-3 15th to claim the lead by himself for the first time all day.
With Kim continuing to breathe down his neck, Clark gave himself some more wiggle room with a 12-foot birdie on his penultimate hole, which doubled as his 13th make from outside 10 feet on the greens. In total, he made 450 feet worth of putts on the week, more than one-third of which came on Sunday.
While the putter will be the club that will garner credit, Clark as a whole looked much more like the man of two or three years ago. Confident and with a presence about himself, the major winner who collected just two top-10 finishes in his last two seasons entered the winner’s circle with a rediscovered strut and a rediscovered confidence. Grade: A+
Here are the rest of the notable names on the leaderboard at the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
2. Si Woo Kim (-27): It proved to be a week of almosts for Kim — from nearly breaking 60 to nearly breaking his winless drought that dates back to the 2023 Sony Open. He led by five heading into the weekend but saw his lead trimmed to two with 18 holes to play after a tumultuous third round. He came out firing with six birdies in his first 12 holes to fend off the chasing pack before Clark emerged as his main challenger. The two traded blows down the closing stretch, and despite nearly tying the PGA Tour record for most birdies in a tournament (34) with his 33, Kim ultimately needed a few more. Grade: A
3. Scottie Scheffler (-25): It has now been 10 tournaments without a victory for Scheffler, with his title defense coming as his most recent close call. Entering the final round two strokes off the pace of Kim, Scheffler failed to seize key opportunities early in his round as his wedge play was unable to set up realistic birdie opportunities. If there are clubs to blame for not winning, Scheffler may look at those. Still, while the trophies are not being collected, quality finishes continue to be for Scheffler. He has not finished outside the top 25 since the 2024 BMW Championship. Grade: A-
T14. Blades Brown (-18): How about that for a birthday weekend?! Turning just 19 years old on Thursday, Brown was in need of a solo 21st-place finish or better to earn special temporary membership on the PGA Tour, which allows him to accept an unlimited number of sponsor exemptions. Thanks to a final-round 67, he came inside that necessary finish with room to spare. He was fantastic throughout the bag, but what really stood out was the precision with which he controlled his iron play. That will continue to translate at the highest level as golf fans become more familiar with a budding star. Grade: A+
T14. Brooks Koepka (-18): The five-time major champion gained more than 2.50 strokes on the field with the putter in hand on Thursday and then came crashing down to earth on Friday. Koepka’s putter ultimately rebounded, which should provide optimism for his summer, as it has been the clear thorn in his side through five months of the season. His driver will need to tighten up for next week’s tournament at Colonial as well, which will be a big one for Koepka and his quest to play himself into the signature events, as he is just barely on the outside looking in of the Aon Swing 5. Grade: B
T19. Jordan Spieth (-15): After a second-round 62, Spieth found himself with a late weekend tee time on Saturday and was unable to do anything with it. The three-time major champion penciled five bogeys on his scorecard across an eight-hole stretch and put his tournament hopes to bed with a painfully poor 73 on Saturday. To his credit, he bounced back with a 66 in the final round, but the week marked another in which his game was riddled with inconsistencies and unable to survive the four-round grind of tournament golf. On the year, he has eight top-25 finishes in 14 starts but is still without a top-10 effort.
“I felt like I had a hard time this week adjusting from last week on the speed,” Spieth said. “There was a significant drop in the speed of these greens. … Had I hit a number of putts a little bit harder, I think a lot of guys who played last week would probably say the same thing. But ultimately, I feel good about where it’s at. I feel good about where my game’s at. I just didn’t get a lot to show for it. I’m going to stay patient and stay the course.” Grade: C
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.