Bob Meyer sat in front of a television in his Castle Rock home, his gaze fixed on the 18th green at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, almost 3,000 miles east on New York’s Long Island.
Wyndham Clark, a Denver native, hovered over a long putt, about 60 feet from the hole.
If Clark could get down in two, he’d be U. S. Open champion for the second time in four years, and Meyer could again feel he played a small role in Clark’s growth from beginner to major champion.
Clark stroked his putt and the ball undulated—deliberately—across the lightning-fast green, working its way toward the cup. “A beautiful lag,” Meyer said later.
After what seemed like a minute or more but was only seconds, Clark’s putt came to a stop, mere inches from its intended destination. A tap-in was all that remained between him and a one-shot victory over Sam Burns.
Clark’s widowed dad, Randall, surprised his son by catching a red-eye flight to be present for the Open’s final round and gave him a prolonged hug during the greenside celebration that followed. Meyer filled with pride.
The embodiment of Optimist International’s “Friend of Youth” motto, Meyer had met Clark almost 17 years earlier, when Wyndham was a little-known junior golfer. He hadn’t yet won his two Class 4A state high school titles as a Valor Christian student.
At the time, Meyer was chair of the Optimist Club of Monaco South Junior Golf Program, which organized an annual qualifying tournament for young players from all of Colorado and the southern third of Wyoming, Qualifiers, usually around 60, spread across seven age groups and both genders, advanced to an international tournament in Florida—at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. The trip was chaperoned by Meyer and others.
(Optimist International still conducts the tournament in Florida, at Doral now, and the Monaco South club still supports the local qualifier. But the junior golf program became a 501(c) (3) this year, and Meyer is president of the non-profit’s Board of Directors.)
Wyndham Clark played in the finals at PGA National twice, in 2008 and 2009. It was during his second trip—as a 15-year-old—that Meyer got to know him up close and personal.
“Wyndham and I were on the same flight to Florida,” Meyer recalls. “His father asked me if I would give Wyndham a ride to the resort.”
Their conversation was what you’d expect between an adult stranger and a pubescent youth: cordial but nothing memorable.
Clark didn’t win it all either year he played in the Florida tournament, but the exposure to high-level competition and a PGA-caliber course certainly helped him develop into the champion he has become.
Besides those two state high school titles (in 2009 and 2011) and his two major championships, Clark’s resume includes (among many achievements):
Three other PGA Tour victories, the 2023 Wells Fargo, the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson;
Participation in the 2023 Ryder Cup and 2024 President’s Cup;
Numerous collegiate titles and honors; and
Colorado Golf Association Junior Stroke Play in 2009 (winning by 11 shots) and CGA Stroke Play the next year (at 16, the youngest winner in 39 years).
The Optimist Club of Monaco South is celebrating its golden anniversary this year, and the junior golf program, in which it has been involved for more than 30 years, is one of the club’s approximately 50 youth and community projects. More than 5,000 junior golfers from Colorado and southern Wyoming have participated over the three-plus decades.
Clark isn’t the only local player to get a start on a professional career in the Optimist Junior Golf Program.
Mark Hubbard, who won the Boys 16-18 age group Optimist championship in 2009 at PGA National, attended Colorado Academy. He has career earnings of more than $13 million since turning pro in 2012.
And Jennifer Kupcho, a two-time 4A state prep champion while attending Jefferson Academy, won the first Augusta National Women’s Championship in 2019 and so far has won four LPGA tournaments, including one major (the 2022 Chevron).
She finished first in the Colorado-Wyoming Optimist District qualifier in both 2011 and 2012 and competed at PGA National.
As part of their Optimist junior golf legacy, both Clark and Kupcho were inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2024.
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Denny Dressman writes a weekly sports column for The Villager. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.