Wyndham Clark criticised after sounding off on course conditions at Hero World Challenge

Wyndham Clark drew criticism from golf fans after the American complained about the course conditions during the Hero World Challenge. 

The annual PGA Tour event in Albany, Bahamas, is contested by 20 players and hosted by Tiger Woods. 

Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, is currently in a great position to claim his first win since last year's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. 

After 36 holes, he is in a five-way tie for the lead with Cameron Young, J.J. Spaun, Akshay Bhatia and former Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama.  

But he is not happy with his short game and has so far found chipping around the greens particularly difficult.  

"Do you want the politically correct answer?" Clark said to a reporter when asked why the short game is proving troublesome for him this week. "It's [the course] not in good shape. 

"You're always chipping into the grain and there's a lot of chips that are up and over so have to chip up, and you're coming from really bad lies in Bermuda and you have to hit it up and there's just very little margin for error."

Clark, who also graded his season an F, endured plenty of blowback after his comments were shared on X. 

"This guy's middle name is Whine," @braxtonproper wrote. "Cry baby," another added. 

"This guy needs his PR firm to tranquilize him when he is in front of a microphone," one said. 

@golf_hack wrote: "Such an ungrateful person. Ranking is sinking, gets a free lifeline into the hit and giggle to rescue his ranking and he's bitching? Such a chump."

In fairness to Clark, he wasn't the only player in the field to touch upon the subject. 

Reigning world number one Scottie Scheffler also said the conditions were "pretty challenging". 

"The ball has a tendency to sit down in the turf," Scheffler - who also is trying a new driver this week - told reporters after his first round. 

"And a lot of it's rough here, so you're below the green, ball's sitting down. It can be pretty challenging."

Corey Conners also echoed the thoughts of Clark and Scheffler. 

"Yeah, it's really grainy, the ball just kind of sits down a little bit," the Canadian said. 

"The ground's not very forgiving and you’ve got to get some height on the shots. 

"The greens are all raised up a little bit, so kind of hitting from low areas, softer, tighter, really grainy lie. 

"It's pretty important to make sure you have good contact."

Clark hires new swing coach

It has been a forgettable season for Clark. 

It wasn't too long ago that he always appeared to be in the thick of it with the aforementioned Scheffler, going toe-to-toe down the stretch on any given Sunday on the PGA Tour. 

But his form has dipped and he has fallen from career-high third in the world rankings to 38th. 

He has also been in the headlines for the wrong reasons. 

An outburst of anger in the locker room after a missed cut at the U.S. Open saw him banned from Oakmont. 

Clark, who has apologised profusely for damaging the century-old locker, also drew plenty of criticism once again after he angrily hurled his driver during the final round of the PGA Championship. 

He apologised again for his "inappropriate behaviour" and asked for forgiveness. 

The only high point of his year came at the final men's major where he posted a top-five finish at The Open at Royal Portrush. 

"An F that became an F-plus," Clark said at the Hero World Challenge. "It just was a bad year. 

"A lot of crap happened and then I kind of salvaged it at the end. 

"But the good thing is we've got next year and we're almost done. So yeah, I'm looking forward to next year."

Clark has also hired a new swing coach after several years of mostly going solo. 

Pat Coyner will now be working with Clark. 

"I wouldn't change anything [about my swing]," Clark said. "It's just now I have someone to check in on me."