Lost major championships can eliminate the disappointing years of the Scottish Open Sunday

Wyndham Clark sat on the podium at TPC Sawgrass in March and was discussing part of his career as his championship putt was rejected on the 72nd hole of the 2024 Player Championship. His definition of how victory at the 2023 U.S. Open brought expectations of growth and allowed him to try to find the joy that evaporates after slipping down his game.

“The biggest thing about me is to reach my potential and the changes every day and every game, but when I lack focus, I get frustrated, or I get angry, or I’m angry there, or I’m emitting a shot or not reaching my potential,” Clark said in Sawgrass. “These are things that frustrate me. When I’m having fun on the golf course, I feel like I’m maximizing these things. I’m having fun in the boy car. I’m really embracing that moment. These are the moments I want to go back to because I think I want to play my best golf in that mentality. I hope that this week, I hope that I can work hard for the next few weeks, and I hope I can work hard there.”

It didn’t come to the player, he withdrew his neck injury. Clark’s season has been filled with disappointing major performances and emotional explosions since the end of the Houston Open, including a smashed locker at Oakmont Country Club after the U.S. Open disappeared.

Clark’s apology was a little underdeveloped for the next week as he tried to immediately turn his focus to “keep going.” He finished the T17 at Traveler and then missed Rocket Classic’s layoffs. Clark hasn’t made the top 15 since March, but he entered the Genesis Scottish Open for Renaissance clubs and threw the 66, 69 and 66 rounds into three rounds, opening nine times in three rounds and putting his two shots back to Rory McIlroy and Chris Gotterup.

“Frankly,” Clark said on Saturday. “I haven’t had a good year yet, and I don’t compete regularly. It’s nice to get back to this position and let’s see if I can put a good round together and have four solid golf balls. ”

Clark entered Week 79 in the FedEx Cup rankings. He has a job to do the playoffs and secure his position in the next season’s signature game. The metric system was obtained based on Datagolf’s real brushstrokes, with Clark ranked 60th, approaching 149th and 76th this season.

The game hasn’t come yet.

However, this week he was ranked 14th and second in putters, although the Iron race was still good (near -3.231).

Anyway, he will leave in the final trio with McIlroy on Sunday and have a chance to eliminate the disappointing 15 months since fate rejected him at TPC Sawgrass.

Clark isn’t the only major champion who found himself on the other side of the Atlantic.

A month after Clark opened to players, Matt Fitzpatrick gave his brutal honest assessment of his game after the first round of the RCMP legacy.

“That’s rubbish, it’s very simple,” he said. “It’s so bad. Yes, it’s the worst I’ve ever played.”

What happened to the 2022 US Open Championship? The question is that there is no simple answer.

“A little bit of everything,” he said. “Every week it seems like throwing something at me, making the bad. Most of the time the iron isn’t good enough, and then obviously puts pressure on everything else. Actually, I can drive it this year, which is probably the only positive, but everything else isn’t good enough, other than that.”

The 30-year-old Fitzpatrick’s final victory was in the 2023 Royal Bank Legacy. In 2024, his game was shaky. He didn’t win in 2024, and only won three top ten, ranking 40th in the FedEx Cup rankings. Fitzpatrick worked hard to start the season but ended with T8 in the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club. Some pedestrian finishes were followed, but he, like Clark, had already dug something out of Scotland’s ancient sod.

Fitzpatrick has made it to 69, 63 and 69, serving nine in three rounds and has a chance to track down the crowd’s favorite McIlroy on Sunday.

While recent results may not indicate an upcoming, Fitzpatrick may feel his game surfaced.

“Of course,” Fitzpatrick said when asked if his confidence was back. “No doubt. I’m more confident in my game and the shots I’m going to play. I definitely feel like there are some good basic performances that don’t necessarily equal the result, but I feel that’s one of the things you have to be patient and keep doing, and if you feel like you’re on the right path, that’s where I feel right.”

Fitzpatrick ranked 40th in the season, approaching 72nd and 70th. Fitzpatrick scored more than two shots per round in approach this week, while 5.8 were on the Greens. However, the driver (-0.073) remains comfortable.

McIlroy will be the center of attention at the Renaissance Club on Sunday. After two weeks off, McIlroy finally felt refreshed after winning discomfort after graduation.

“This is my first realistic opportunity to win after the Masters, and I had a great season,” McIlroy said on Saturday. “I won on the pebble. I won the players. I said that, when you do something you dream about, it’s a big moment in my life, my career. I think it’s just a little bit of time. Over the past few weeks, I’ve come back here and feel like I can really digest this game, I feel like I’m as excited as I am, and another passionate,”

But while McIlroy will make the headlines of Sunday’s Scottish Open, two lost main champions will be weak on his heel, hoping that the 18 good holes on the Scottish Waterfront will eliminate months of disappointment and frustration.