Wyndham Clark impressed at the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this month, but his performance was overshadowed by a number of chaeating allegations at Bay Hill.
Wyndham Clark has responded to accusations of cheating at the recent Arnold Palmer Invitational, stating that he had no malicious intentions during the incident but acknowledging that it may have appeared unfavorable.
Clark, who has been showcasing excellent form on the PGA Tour this season, secured a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and achieved runner-up positions at both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship. Despite his strong performances, the allegations of cheating during his third round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational have overshadowed his achievements.
Following his final tee shot at the 18th hole, Clark encountered the thick Bay Hill rough. As TV cameras focused on his lie, it seemed that his iron, when placed on the ground, caused movement of both the ball and the grass.
Numerous individuals were swift to accuse the U.S. Open champion of illicitly attempting to enhance his lie. However, the American golfer has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. In an interview with Fox News Digital, he expressed his regret, stating, “It is unfortunate because I had no intention to cheat or improve my lie. I was completely unaware of any incident until I entered the scoring tent, where they presented me with the video evidence.”
When I watched the video, I thought, ‘Oh no, that doesn’t look good’. It’s a shame it appears bad, but I truly didn’t have any bad intentions. Clark was able to, “ground the club lightly right in front of or right behind the ball,” as per rule 8.1b (4). Despite this, the 30-year-old stood by his actions.
“You’re allowed to place your club down to check your lie,” he explained. “I hope this blows over soon. I’ve never attempted to cheat in golf, and I hope people don’t see me that way. I believe the camera angle exaggerated the situation.”
Clark expressed a similar sentiment earlier this month, stating: “I actually had no idea that that even happened. They told me in the scoring tent. Showed me the video. I wasn’t trying to do anything like cheating or anything like that or improve my lie. I just simply put my club down.
“And, you know, obviously they zoom in, [and] it makes it look worse. We all talked about it. Scottie and the rules officials, they didn’t think it moved. So fortunately that didn’t happen. So yeah, I was unaware of that until I got in.” Clark was defeated at Bay Hill by Scottie Scheffler, and one week later faced the same outcome.
The golfer from the United States had a chance to make a birdie putt on the last hole of the Players Championship last week in order to tie with Scheffler, but unfortunately missed by a hair’s breadth, resulting in consecutive victories for the top-ranked player. Clark is also behind Scheffler in the FedEx Cup rankings, with both players leading the season-long leaderboard.
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