www.montereycountynow.com JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 5, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 15 BY ANY STANDARD, THE 2024 AT&T PEBBLE BEACH PRO-AM WAS UNUSUAL. For the first time, there was no Bill Murray, no celebrity antics. Instead the field was populated with the world’s top professionals—also a first for the tournament. The PGA Tour named it a designated event, so the purse jumped from $9 million to $20 million. Meanwhile the weather took a brutal turn, putting the area under shelterin-place orders and canceling the final round. Seven years had passed since the previous 54-hole finish on the tour. What truly stood apart, however, started with a guy named Mike. “Sorry, don’t know his last name, just met him this week,” Wyndham Clark said after Saturday’s third round in 2024. “I flew in early Sunday, spent about three, four hours with him.” Golf coach Mike Kanski is the Mike in question. Clark had been struggling with his putter for several months and Kanski worked on a solution. The results were not obvious at first. Clark managed par—72 at Spyglass Hill—on Thursday and wrapped up Friday with a round of 67 at Pebble Beach Golf Links. He began Saturday on the very fringe of contention, six strokes back in a tie for 23rd. By the end of the day, Clark had made course history. He was an unstoppable force, especially on the greens. Clark drained 189 feet of putts on the day, besting the previous course mark by a whopping 73 feet. Five were from 25 feet or further. “It was the best putting day of my life,” Clark says. “Everything just went in.” But there’s more. The Colorado SWINGING LOW Wyndham Clark looks back on his record-breaking round at the 2024 Pro-Am. By Dave Faries Wyndham Clark and caddie John Ellis celebrate after finishing the record round. Clark and Ellis consider strategy as they walk. Clark blasts out of a bunker on 14.
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