Labeled a ‘Cheater,’ Wyndham Clark Finds Relief as PGA Tour Pro Defends His Controversial Rule Gaffe

The problems surrounding ‘rules’ and Wyndham Clark don’t seem to end. In fact, if you’re keeping up with the Arnold Palmer Invitational in any capacity, you must have heard that Clark has been accused of “cheating” again. You haven’t? Well, let’s get into it right away.

He finished the day in second place, two shots behind Shane Lowry, and then took free relief on the third hole. But how did that happen? After his tee shot in the 3rd round landed in the fairway, it took a bounce and returned to his own pitch mark. Considering its against the rule, it caught everyone’s attention. If his ball had rested in another divot, they would have given Clark a drop under penalty. He escaped the penalty and ended up making a par. Eventually, people started speculating whether Clark had taken another PGA Tour pro’s spot on the fairway.

Soon after, the media went into a frenzy and labeled him a “cheater.” However, in a turn of events, officials cleared him of all suspicion. Initially, even the PGA Tour’s director of TV rules, Rich Pierson, took a strict stance. However, after reviewing the ESPN+ cameras and ShotLink footage, officials ruled that the ball landed in Clark’s own pitch mark, resulting in no penalty.

However, Clark had already suffered the damage. Wyndham Clark received a barrage of hate, with golf enthusiasts saying, “Clark with another potential cheating scandal? Color me shocked.” However, a few empathized with him. “I hope he’s not penalized for this; it’s a ridiculous rule, and he had no intent,” said one fan.

And in this series of support, Wyndham Clark has found another unexpected ally. American golfer Michael Kim, currently tied for T19 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, took Clark’s side with a post on X. This support also feels more genuine because Micheal Kim is known for his takes on social media. Additionally, he frequently updates his followers about latest interesting stories on the PGA Tour greens. Back in 2024, and after Clark’s win at the 2023 U.S. Open, Kim shared an interesting fact about the golfer, saying Clark often calls himself, “one of the best poker players on Tour.” So, we can at least be sure Michael Kim is up-to-date about the recent happenings in golf.

Fast forward to 2025, we have Kim backing Clark. He said, “Is the Wyndham embedded ball ‘issue’ that it didn’t go into his own ball mark? Or that because it bounced out, it’s not embedded? If it’s the latter, it doesn’t matter that it briefly came out of its own pitch mark. It only matters that it’s your own, and if it went back in, it’s considered embedded. From the video, it looks like it went into his own, and I don’t have any issue with what he did.”

The video released following the controversy showed that the ball settled back into the mark. Hence, according to Kim, it is acceptable. However, this isn’t the first time Wyndham Clark has faced cheating accusations.

Wyndham Clark and his long history of cheating scandals on the greens.

A similar incident occurred at last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. As Clark prepared for his second shot, an NBC camera zoomed in, showing him placing his iron in the grass behind the ball for 2 seconds. The footage captured both the ball and the grass moving, leading to speculation. Clark defended himself, stating that he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“I wasn’t trying to do anything like cheating or anything like that or improve my lie. I just simply put my club down… We all talked about it. Scottie and the rules officials didn’t think it moved.” Similarly, in this event, the committee stated that the ball had wobbled but returned to its original spot. Therefore, they did not penalize him.

Before this, Clark faced a similar situation at the 2024 U.S. Open. On the 10th hole, Clark appeared to step on a divot to fix his lie as his ball rolled back toward it. Some people defended Clark’s actions, while others argued that he broke the rules and should receive a penalty. Rule 11.3 prohibits golfers from taking such actions and imposes a two-stroke penalty.

Coming back to the recent incident, World No. 7 Wyndham Clark defended himself by explaining that he did not understand what caused so much confusion among everyone. “When we hit it, I was asking for it to stop. We never saw it bounce. Then, we get up there and it’s in a plugged lie. It was filled with – my ball was covered with mud. So we took relief, didn’t think anything of it.”

It has happened more than twice, though. But after this, what do you think of it now?