Winning a major is hard enough. Winning one while the crowd actively roots against you is another matter entirely. Wyndham Clark achieved that feat at Shinnecock Hills and has consistently refused to put the blame on anyone. While Keegan Bradley, the US Ryder Cup captain, was asked about the mistreatment Clark faced, he offered a measured take linking the hostile atmosphere to golf’s rapid expansion and the arrival of fans who follow a different code. He felt there were both good and bad outcomes. Clark, however, promptly disagreed with Bradley’s opinion and maintained a neutral stance.

“I don’t really see any negative in more people coming to golf,” Clark responded at the Travelers Championship. “I jokingly think of Happy Gilmore when he first came out, and they had all those crazy fans when he played in that movie. But I think that’s good. It brings new audiences.

“I think it’s great for the game of golf. Golf is cool right now. That’s going to bring cool people, and they’re going to want to watch golf, and they might react differently. I think maybe it’s a little different in New York than maybe other places, but no, I think it’s all good.”

Both Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley spoke about the atmosphere at Shinnecock Hills at the Travelers Championship press conference on Wednesday. The event runs from June 25-28 at the TPC River Highlands and is a traditional stop directly after the U.S. Open on the calendar. Bradley, meanwhile, is the defending champion, as he won the event last year at 15-under.

But coming back to the U.S. Open, spectators’ treatment of Clark as he led the final round has become an open conversation over the last week. While many have condemned such behavior, Keegan Bradley at the press conference gave a new take.

The U.S. Ryder Cup captain said the sport is in the middle of leaving the traditional world behind, with sports fans now attending tournaments who bring arena culture with them rather than golf etiquette. He found the behavior toward Clark surprising, given that he is an American playing his national open, but he stopped well short of calling it unacceptable, framing it just as an inevitable sign of the changing times.

“I think that golf is in the process of leaving just the golf world, where people are coming to tournaments that are sports fans, and that’s how, you know, people in New York cheer on the Knicks or the Giants or whatever. And they’re coming to tournaments, and they’re sports fans, and they’re golfers, but I think that we’re entering a time where the game is really growing in popularity. I think people are coming to golf tournaments to have a good time,” Bradley said.

Though Clark disagrees, Bradley’s perspective is not wrong entirely.

U.S. golf participation has risen by roughly 6% annually over the past six years, with a continued increase in 2026. Total golf participation is on track to eclipse 50 million Americans for the first time, as reported by the National Golf Foundation in March 2026.

Connected to that, PGA Tour viewership on CBS, for instance, rose 17% in 2025 compared to the year prior, while other media houses have also seen an average increase in final round viewers.

And by the policies the PGA Tour is pushing, that development is likely and wanted. The game is attracting people who grew up with sports cultures in various domains.

The question of whether golf’s culture can absorb that shift or whether it needs to is one the sport has not answered yet.