Wyndham Clark baffled by Zach Johnson's Ryder Cup captaincy: "It's crazy to me..."
Wyndham Clark has suggested Zach Johnson wasn't a very good captain at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.
Wyndham Clark has admitted he wasn't prepared for the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy after he chose not to touch a club for two weeks following an exhausting season.
But the golfer has also hinted that Zach Johnson's leadership for Team USA could have been markedly improved.
Clark opened up on the subject in an explosive interview with the No Laying Up podcast.
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It was clear that Clark felt as though the leadership from Jim Furyk at the 2024 Presidents Cup was a step up from what he experienced in Rome last September as one of Johnson's rookies.
Particularly with regards to transparency.
Clark said he knew weeks in advance that he was going to be playing alongside Keegan Bradley and Tony Finau at the Presidents Cup.
That wasn't the case last September, he said.
Clark said: "Honestly one of the biggest shocks when I played for the team in Rome was just that... I didn't really know who I was playing with.
"I didn't really know the situation, so I was just kind of out there on the range and somebody would come up [to me] and say, 'Okay Wyndham, so you're going [to be playing with] so-and-so.'
"I was like, okay, well, I didn't really play a practice round with him. So it was just disjointed."
He added: "This [the Presidents Cup] was awesome. I'll give you an example, on the Saturday where we had the 36-hole day at the Presidents Cup, he [Furyk] told me, 'Okay Wyndham, I'm going to put you and Keegan out in the morning and I'm going to sit you in the afternoon, are you good with that?'"
Clark said this type of information 'clearly' wasn't relayed in past Cups.
"It's just crazy to me," he said.
"[The benefits are] you can just prepare mentally.
"You can say, okay, I've only got to prepare for the morning, it is best ball, so I'm going to go and make sure that I have my best game and go out there and win and I'm going to be thinking about birdies.'
"Or, if it was alternate shot you start visualising like, hey, I know I'm just playing alternate shot so I'm going to visualise my tee shots, the putts I'm going to have or the iron shots I'm going to have in."
He added: "I mean it sounds like a no-brainer but finally we had that happen this year.
"So there's no shock that we, in my opinion, had so much success because we do have the best squad and are some of the best players in the world.
"You just need to set us up for success and I feel like they're doing that now."
Clark said he's held deep conversations with the likes of Brian Harman and Max Homa about what else Team USA needs to do better in New York should they make the team.
For his part, Johnson has admitted there were areas he could have improved as a captain.
He acknowledged that his players would have benefitted from not taking a six-week break after the season-ending Tour Championship.
Luke Donald's dozen did not take that much time off.
All 12 of Europe's players were in the field at the BMW PGA Championship.
An extensive recce trip to Marco Simone was also held.
Before the match, Clark claimed that the European side was likely to 'leak oil' given the team was more than likely exhausted.
Europe eventually ran out winners by a margin of five points.
The 2025 Ryder Cup will be played at Bethpage Black over 26-28 September.
