Colorado
Wyndham Clark is trusting the process, and his game could be peaking at the perfect time in Colorado return
CASTLE ROCK — Given the way he’s played recently, the hometown crowd could be in for something special if Wyndham Clark is anywhere near the top of the leaderboard here Sunday morning.
Clark, who grew up playing on Front Range courses, is back to play a PGA Tour event in his home state for the first time. He enters the weekend as the No. 6-ranked player on the tour, fresh off an appearance at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
His year started great, had some wobbles in the middle and could be turning around at the right time in the second of three FedEx Cup playoff events — the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club this Thursday through Sunday.
“I’ve gone back to a little bit more of a process. I think I was getting a little too outcome-focused,” Clark said this week. “As I had some early success in the year and was playing amazing golf, I think I just got — just falling short of Scottie (Sheffler) a couple of times and then you’re thinking, okay — I just got too much into winning and trying to break through and win in some of those big events.
“Then I got away from everything that made me successful, and I feel like recently kind of in the last probably four weeks I’ve gotten back to the process of focusing on the things that got me here, playing good golf, and I’ve started to play good golf.”
Clark won for the third time on the PGA Tour at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. That tournament only had three rounds, but his charge to the finish line with a 60 to finish at 17-under-par was a harbinger of things to come.
He has not won since Pebble Beach, but Clark has made Sunday surges up the leaderboard a staple of his recent play. There was a 63 on Sunday at The Travelers Championship in June to finish tied for ninth. Then a 62 at the Scottish Open in July for another backdoor top-10.
Clark missed the cut at The British Open, but his last two events — the Olympics in France and the FedEx St. Jude Championship — have followed a similar script. It’s been a slow start, but a scorching-hot finish.
“I really feel like when I’m playing my best, it’s very process (oriented),” Clark said. “All I care about is my routine, doing the best I can before I get into the ball mentally, post-shot mentally, post-round, before round. That’s all I cared about, and that’s all I judge myself on.
“I think I just crept in a little bit too much of looking at the scoreboard and trying to force things to happen rather than just let them happen.”
Clark said he tries to avoid what is written and said about him in the media, but something about how he played when he scuffled through a 75 in the opening round at the Olympics found its way into his orbit.
That may have provided a little extra motivation. Either way, he went 68-65-65 over the final three rounds and the momentum he felt he was creating was fully restored.
“Even that back nine on that first day, I just hit it in the water and missed a couple of short putts, otherwise it probably would have been an even par or a 1-under round,” Clark said. “We might be talking about a bronze medal if that back nine was a little bit different.
“That definitely was a huge confidence boost for me because I know there was a lot of media talk about me being there and how bad I played and whatnot, and I wanted to prove to myself and my country that I’m a top American player.”
Now he arrives home in Colorado, with a chance to put an exclamation point on what has been a second straight successful season after four years of grinding as a pro. Clark has seven top-10 finishes this year in 18 events, including three of the past five.
When he’s on, Clark is right there with the best in the world — a fact he proved in May 2023 when he won the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club. If he can avoid a slow start at Castle Pines, he might get the chance to lean on a hometown crowd ready to cheer him to victory.
“Obviously what Scottie and Xander (Schaufele) are doing, I think everyone is holding all of us to a really high standard compared to them,” Clark said, referencing the top two players in the FedExCup Playoffs standings. “But it was an amazing year. Last year I was roughly in the same spot coming into this event; I was in fifth. Last year was an amazing year, too.
“It’s been an amazing run of two years, and I’m really pleased, and I’m hoping this is just an upward trend.”
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The Colorado Buffaloes are still putting the finishing touches on their 2027 class over the next few months, but their 2028 recruiting plan continues to take shape.
Earlier this week, Deion Sanders’ staff extended an offer to one of the top prospects in the class of 2028, composite five-star wide receiver Jaylen Addai. Addai now holds 43 offers, including one from nearly every blue-blood program in the country.
247Sports’ Composite currently ranks Addai as the No. 12 overall prospect in the 2028 class, the No. 3 overall wide receiver and the top player from the state of Texas.
At 5-foot-11, 165 pounds, the Pearland, Texas native fits the mold of the modern-day receiver. He seems likely to fill into his frame given his youth. Addai is a multiple-sport athlete with elite athleticism on the field, on the basketball court and on the track.
Given how early it is in Addai’s recruitment, several teams are in contention for his commitment, with Notre Dame and Ohio State leading the way early. When the 2028 cycle picks up later this year, who really has a chance should come into focus, especially when visits begin.
Colorado’s 2028 class does not have any commitments yet, but has offers out to 28 different wide receiver prospects.
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DENVER (KDVR) — New data from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office shows that more than half of Colorado voters are now registered as unaffiliated, meaning they are not registered with a political party.
With the primary election just weeks away, those voters will need to decide whether to participate in the Democratic or Republican primary.
Colorado operates under a semi-open primary system, allowing unaffiliated voters to choose which party’s primary they want to vote in. With unaffiliated voters now making up the majority of registered voters in the state, their choices will play a significant role in election outcomes.
According to the Colorado County Clerks Association, the trend has been building since 2004, with voters continuing to leave both the Democratic and Republican parties to register as unaffiliated.
While an unaffiliated voter’s ballot choices remain private, the party primary they participate in does become part of their public voter registration record.
Unaffiliated voters also face some limitations. They cannot participate in party caucuses and cannot sign petitions for party candidates.
“I think the largest reason why we have so many unaffiliated voters is because people are intensely unhappy with both political parties, and they don’t want to be a part of it,” Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said. “And now with the primaries, they really don’t have to make that choice. They can just vote and then move on and not have to worry about some of the baggage and garbage that comes with being a member of a political party.”
Election officials are reminding unaffiliated voters that they received two ballots in the mail: one for the Republican primary and one for the Democratic primary. Voters should return only one ballot. If both ballots are submitted, neither vote will be counted.
If an unaffiliated voter casts a ballot in-person, the clerk will ask them which ballot they would like to cast.
The Colorado County Clerks Association also reminded voters that ballots must be received by Election Day, with the exception of military and overseas voters. Voters planning to return their ballots by mail should send them by the Tuesday before Election Day, one week in advance, to ensure they arrive on time.
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