Wyndham Clark withdraws from The Players Championship: Reason explored

The second round of the 2025 Players Championship is underway at TPC Sawgrass. Three-time PGA Tour winner Wyndham Clark withdrew from the tournament on day two after playing nine holes.

Clark, who started playing professional golf in 2017, won the Wells Fargo Championship and the U.S. Open in 2023. He also lifted the trophy at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2024 and is currently No. 8 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Before his withdrawal, Clark was aiming for his fourth PGA Tour win at the 2025 Players Championship. According to Sports Illustrated, he stated his reason for withdrawing from the event as a neck injury.

In the first round of the tournament, the 31-year-old golfer shot an even-par 72. He began the second round 11 shots away from the lead, but struggled through his front nine. The PGA Tour star made a double bogey on the second hole and two more bogeys on holes three and five. He made par at hole nine, moving down to 15 shots behind the lead. In total, he shot four-over 40 on the front nine and made no birdies.

The Players Championship has a cut, which is projected to be one-under. As such, Clark would’ve had to get a five-under score on the back nine to qualify for the next round.

Notably, Wyndham Clark performed much better at last year’s Players Championship. He finished the tournament as a runner-up, one stroke behind World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who won the event. Clark tied for T2 with Xander Schauffele and Brian Harman.

Clark was the fourth player to withdraw from the 2025 Players Championship. Lee Hodges withdrew from the event before it started, and Jason Day and Victor Perez both pulled out on Thursday.

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“It has been frustrating”: Wyndham Clark on how his Major victory made him feel pressured

On Wednesday, March 12, Wyndham Clark spoke in a press conference ahead of the Players Championship. When asked about the effect his 2024 Major victory had on his game, he revealed that he felt some pressure to keep meeting up to fans’ expectations.

“For me, it has been frustrating. It's funny how you have success and you win a major you win some tournaments and then everyone expects you to do that all the time. Scottie is doing that all the time, and it's very impressive, but no one else is really doing that.”

“It's kind of put some undue pressure, I feel like, on me specifically because if I went and I made all four cuts in the majors and contended one time, that's actually not that bad, or if I missed three of the cuts and finished fourth at one of the majors, I would have taken that three years ago,” Wyndham Clark said (Via ASAP Text).

Clark further said that his major focus was on playing good golf and enjoying it while trying not to raise expectations anymore.