What’s driving a two-time U.S. Open winner to play multiple fall events? Why play in Japan and then Mexico during the slow season after such a busy and decorated 2026? When does too much travel impact a player’s game?
The line of questioning Wyndham Clark has been facing can be boiled down to the very simple — yet seemingly agnostic — refrain, “What are you doing here?”
There’s a lot at stake for quite a few number of players not named Wyndham Clark this week, so it’s seemingly a fair line of thought — and not one that’s meant to disqualify the Mexico Open as an event for major champions to consider in the future.
“Everyone’s asking me why I’m playing so much — I kind of like it keeps you sharp, doing some club testing. You know, the destinations that I’m playing at are pretty amazing,” the 32-year-old Clark told reporters in Vallarta on Wednesday. “Played in Japan, playing here in Mexico and then going to South Africa. They’re all beautiful, amazing destinations. You use it as a work week, but also a little bit of a vacation.”
Beside keeping the game sharp and traveling, the No. 5-ranked player in the world’s main motivation this week will be the man standing right beside him on every hole.
Clark’s brother, Brendan, will be carrying his bag this week with Clark’s full-time caddie David Pelekoudas in Italy for a friend’s wedding.
It’s not the only wedding on deck. Brendan is getting hitched this fall, and big brother would love to contribute.
“I would love to have a great week for my brother with his wedding coming up so I can give him a nice check to help pay for the wedding and honeymoon,” said Clark, who enters as the pretournament favorite after three wins in 2026 including his triumph at Shinnecock Hills.
“It’s fun for us — he lives in Kansas City, I live in Arizona,” Clark added . “We see each other good amount but not as much as we would like, so this will be a fun, special week.”
So far, the Clark brothers have taken their significant others to a Robbie Williams concert and Cirque du Soleil.
“This place, I refer to it almost as Jurassic Park. It’s this amazing hotel, theme park, golf course, resort. It’s fantastic,” Wyndham said at his press conference.
Clark will play Thursday and Friday with in a featured group with Tom Kim, who he went against in the Presidents Cup at Medinah last month. The group also has reigning champion Brian Campbell.
If the Clarks needs something to chat about with the 33-year-old Campbell and his caddie, then they can always opt for wedding planning if golf talk falls short — Campbell and his fiancé are leaving Mexico for their own wedding next week.
Clark wasn’t in the field when Campbell won for the first-time in his Tour career last February. The tournament has been moved to the fall season this year after being played earlier in the calendar, putting two Tour events south of the border in back to back weeks.
In 2022, Clark finished T-67 at this tournament. He improved a year later, placing T-24 at 10 under before skipping the 2024 and 2025 versions.
“I’ve been coming to Mexico for, gosh, 15 years as a family so I really enjoy this culture, the food and have played tons of good golf courses,” he said. “Hopefully we continue to come here and even expand the amount of times we come down here.”
