Oregon reset changed future of U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark
Casey Martin gave a one-sentence command to assistant coach John Ellis: “You take Dub.”
It was Oct. 4, 2016, and Wyndham Clark, known affectionately as Dub, was competing in the Nike Collegiate Invitational in Fort Worth, his first event as an Oregon Duck.
Dub was a redshirt senior; Ellis, a retired mini-tour journeyman in his first coaching gig.
“Dub runs hot,” said Martin, Oregon’s golf coach. “Volatile at times. And John’s humor and needling had a way of deflecting it. After that fall tournament at Colonial, I told John, ‘This guy needs you, and we need him. Manage Dub and get him to the house.’”
Masters 2024: Highlight of Wyndham Clark's week was trip to Augusta National, not $2.2 million paycheck
Wyndham's odds: Masters betting 2024: Picks to win, how many total birdies in past years & other odds
Clark placed second at Colonial Country Club, two shots behind Stanford’s Maverick McNealy; but more importantly, Ellis broke through.
When Ellis prodded, Dub laughed. When Wyndham fumed, Ellis harnessed the reins.
Seven years later, Ellis caddied Clark to the 2023 U.S. Open title and will be on the bag for Wyndham’s first Masters appearance this year.
“You could feel the connection right away,” Martin said. “When Dub got to Oregon, he had been derailed by life, and his golf game was struggling because of it.
“Oregon was his detox.”
It was summer 2016 and Wyndham’s college years had been upended by the 2013 loss of his mother to breast cancer.
As a freshman at Oklahoma State, Clark received a medical hardship. The next season, he was crowned Big 12 Player of the Year.
Then his game deteriorated.
As a sophomore, he made 10 starts, never placing higher than 15th, and finished 145th at the NCAA Championship. The next season, Clark received a text from Jeff Gaskill prior to the 2016 NCAAs at Eugene Country Club.
Gaskill, a member at the club, had first met Clark at the Pacific Coast Amateur when he agreed to host the teenager from Denver. Now, he wanted to extend an invite.
Full Swing: New season of Netflix's 'Full Swing' chronicles 2023 Masters Tournament in Augusta
“Wyndham replied and said he wasn’t coming,” Gaskill recalled. “Then he said he was probably going to transfer.”
Late that summer, Clark packed his car, and drove from Stillwater to Denver to Eugene. Twenty-nine straight hours.
“Wyndham called us from Bend and goes, ‘How much further,’” Gaskill recalled. “I said, ‘Still a couple more hours.’”
He arrived at the Gaskills' home at 3 a.m.
“The plan was for Wyndham to stay a few weeks, and then move into a place with teammates,” Gaskill said.
Jeff and Jaime had two young girls, and were expecting their third. But when Clark walked inside, he never left.
And before long, the Gaskills became close with Ellis, too.
Ellis, whose fianceé lived in Minnesota, was alone in Oregon, and spent countless evenings beneath the Gaskills' roof.
The group ate sushi, played pool, shot hoops and, before long, Wyndham did something he hadn’t done in three years: Win.
Then he won again. Finally, a third individual victory at the Pac 12 Tournament.
After 12 months in Eugene, Ellis moved to Minnesota, while Clark turned professional.
Meanwhile, Gaskill made two pledges.
The first: He wouldn’t drink a beer until Clark’s maiden PGA Tour victory. The second was that he wouldn’t set foot on Augusta until Wyndham qualified.
“It took five years for me to open a beer,” Gaskill said.
Now, Gaskill arrives in Georgia, making true on his second pledge.
“I’m staying Monday to Monday,” Jeff said. “Do I think Wyndham has a chance? With his short game, the way he putts, I absolutely believe he’ll be in contention."
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: How 1 Oregon family changed the path for U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark
