Wyndham Clark saw his Open Championship first round thrown into chaos by the unlikeliest of enemies: an iPad.
Bogey-free and two-under par, June’s US Open champion had been cruising around Royal Liverpool on Thursday before he stepped up to the 14th tee, a 452-yard par four.
Trouble brewed immediately as the American’s drive went sailing right and long over the fairway, but things went from bad to worse when the ball ricocheted into a spectator’s iPad, settling in a tuft of long grass.
An unfortunate break, but Clark’s nightmare was only just beginning. The 29-year-old was left staring at the ground in horror after his attempt to hack a shot out of the long grass saw his ball squirt forward mere inches, his club head pulling up clumps of grass on the swing-through.
Clark’s fortunes started to turn when his successful second escape attempt narrowly avoided a bunker, but there was no luck involved in his subsequent two shots to scramble for bogey. Chipping from the rough onto the green, he lasered a putt from 18 feet to complete a remarkable salvage job.
A birdie at the subsequent hole kickstarted a final flourish for the world No. 10, as he closed with another birdie to card three-under for the round, two shots shy of leading trio Christo Lamprecht, Tommy Fleetwood and Emiliano Grillo.
“A little unfortunate off the tee, obviously, hitting the guy is never good, but it really went into a bad spot,” Clark told reporters.
“If I didn’t hit the guy, probably would have been in fine grass and I would have been able to hit it up near the green.
“Getting up-and-down and making about a 20-footer really is a round saver because you make double there, you probably still birdie the next one, maybe, maybe not … making that putt made me feel like I regained the momentum.”
The question is: what was the condition of the iPad?
“Well, I don’t care now,” Clark added. “It screwed me up.”
Clark was playing his first major round as a major champion following a shock first win at the US Open in California last month.
The Denver-born golfer, whose sole win on the PGA Tour had only come in May, held off the challenge of four-time major champion Rory McIlroy to win by a single stroke at Los Angeles Country Club.
The victory changed Clark’s “life and world,” but he is in no mood to sit and reflect just yet.
“What’s great with golf is you have to go play the next week, so you can’t focus too much on it,” Clark said.
“Maybe this fall, I’ll reminisce a little bit more and soak it in, but as of right now, I’m focused on this.”