“Three years trying to get paid like Mahomes”: Golf Insider defends Tom Kim & Wyndham Clark’s cussing fiasco at the Presidents Cup

The 2024 Presidents Cup concluded recently, with Team USA winning the event with a score of 18.5 to 11.5. However, the tournament saw some controversial moments, like the cussing fiasco between Tom Kim and Wyndham Clark. The International Team players, especially Kim, were vocal about sportsmanship issues.

Sean Zak, a prominent golf journalist, defended this controversy on X (formerly Twitter) and said golfers would like to get paid like Patrick Mahomes and plan their schedule like Djokovic, which means that the stakes are very high.

"Re: Tom Kim, Wyndham Clark, and cussing at the Presidents Cup: Golfers have spent the last three years trying to get paid like Mahomes, to own their schedule like Djokovic, to prioritize their NIL and create events more raucous than ever before. The stakes of everything is heightened, so yeah, you might hear some intense emotion from your competitors — perhaps a profanity! — just like happens in all other sporting arenas."

On Saturday, Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim competed against Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.

Wyndham Clark was following this group and was later spotted doing the "night night" celebration as Schauffele and Cantlay won the match. Hence, even though Kim did not name any particular member of Team USA, most people assumed it was Clark.

In the post-round press conference, the South Korean golfer revealed he could hear some players cursing at them. He immediately said he was not frustrated, but thought there was no need to look at someone and curse.

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Wyndham Clark clarifies the 2024 Presidents Cup cussing gate

Wyndham Clark appeared on the the Loop podcast and clarified the doubts and accusations of cussing at the Presidents Cup. He did not deny the cussing but revealed it was only towards his team. (1:53 to 2:20).

"I mean, as far as the cussing that was going on, or any of the trash talking, I feel like on our team, we were doing it only towards our guys. So guys were saying, you know, LFG for our team, and I think that's where the cussing was," Clark revealed.

Clark then said there were times when they were close to the opposition players and were screaming to support their team.

"Now, there were times when we were close to their team, or even their players, where we were screaming for our guys, but you also got to realize we're the away team, so we don't have as much noise, so we're trying to create extra noise," the 30-year-old golfer said.

The next edition of the Presidents Cup will be played from September 21 to September 27, 2026, at Medinah Country Club, Course Three, in Chicago.