Rare is the athlete that can share a stage with Christian McCaffrey and not feel dwarfed like our poor sun during the Great North American eclipse – but such is life for Wyndham Clark.
The Denver native and Valor Christian High School grad is in the mix at the Masters, and golf experts believe he's one of the elite few with a better-than-average chance to win the whole thing.
Depending on your betting website of choice, Clark's odds to win at Augusta National range between 8th and 10th most likely to win. He's playing as well as anybody on either the PGA or LIV tour – save perhaps the odds-on favorite Scottie Scheffler – with two 2nd-place finishes in his last three tournaments.
Clark also won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February after shooting a course-record 60 in the third round.
His confidence at Augusta National, though, stems from his ability to treat golf more like an art, and less like a science.
"I like my chances, I really like myself on this golf course," says Clark. "I feel good on a lot of the tee shots and approaches, there's so much creativity [at the Masters] so I feel good coming into the week."
Clark's never competed at the Masters, but in anticipation of this weekend's tournament he visited the course a few times to try and avoid the fear of the unknown.
"I came and did a couple visits here," says Clark. "I wanted to try and get all the 'Augusta National' out of the way so when I showed up this week it's all business and I can just focus on the golf at hand."
It's not like the 30-year-old has never putted in big moments, either. He won the 2023 U.S. Open by beating Rory McIlroy and the aforementioned Scheffler. But he knows playing the Masters is a different sort of beast.
"I know I'm going to have the first-tee jitters," says Clark. "I'm really hoping when we get to hole 2 or 3 I'm pretty relaxed and I just get about my business and do my job. It's golf. At the end of the day it's putting the golf ball in the hole as fast as possible."
While the game may be simple (theoretically), out-lasting one of the more talented fields in Masters' history is going to take a special effort.
"I know it's a tall task, it's a challenging golf course with a bunch of good golfers," says Clark. "You still have to bring your game, it's not like you can just flip the switch and win it."
Perhaps Clark can siphon off some championship energy from his hometown favorites. In March he visited both the Nuggets and Avalanche during a homestand, chatting with the likes of DeAndre Jordan and Cale Makar.
You can follow the first two rounds of Clark's journey at Augusta National on ESPN+ where they are devoting a stream to his group.
