Wyndham Clark wanted the Medinah crowd to bring more energy on Thursday, but his comments sparked pushback from golf fans online. Clark and Collin Morikawa defeated Ryan Fox and Adam Scott 3&2 in their foursomes match on Day 1 of the 2026 Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club, helping Team USA finish the day with a 3-2 lead. Despite the strong start, Clark felt the atmosphere could have been louder and more energetic. After his round, he expressed disappointment with the crowd’s lack of noise. NUCLR GOLF later shared his comments on X on September 25, prompting fans to weigh in on Clark’s remarks.
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“It was kind of dead out there,” Clark said. “I felt like the momentum could have been better, to be honest, because we weren’t really feeling the fans, I think, as much as normal. Colin hit a five-wood on, what was it, 11 to like 10 feet. And we didn’t even know if it was on the green because no one clapped.”
Clark tried to clarify that he was not simply complaining. He called his comments a challenge to the fans.
“I’m saying this more as a challenge that hopefully tomorrow on the weekend, the fans are out there really rooting us on.”
U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker also admitted that the crowd’s energy dropped as the day went on. He called the atmosphere “weird,” saying the opening tee was loud before things became quieter later. Snedeker pointed to the difficult course setup, tough pin positions, and certain viewing areas where fans could not easily follow the action. He still expected the Chicago crowd to bring more energy on Friday and throughout the weekend.
But Clark’s comments had already spread, and fans online were quick to react. The replies came fast, with people making all kinds of arguments about what he said.
One fan went straight at the contradiction in how golf handles crowd noise. “Professional golfers are not a fan-friendly group. Mr. Clark blames lackluster performance on the absence of fan enthusiasm. Yet, when golf fans whoop and holler, the PGA players are quick to blame their noise as an impactful distraction.”
That tension is real. Players have called for quiet mid-swing for decades. Wyndham Clark asking for more noise from the same audience drew the obvious comparison.
The second fan took a broader, darker view of the sport’s trajectory. “The state of the game in one interview, You’re right, Wyndham Clark. Nobody cares anymore. Enjoy the drag effect of Tiger as long as you can. That shot clock is winding down rapidly.”
The comment pointed at a wider concern about golf’s ability to sustain mainstream fan interest beyond Scheffler and the Tiger Woods era.
The PGA Tour’s presence in the Chicago area came up as a direct explanation for the atmosphere. “Just maybe if the PGA didn’t abandon the Chicagoland area and tried their best to have an annual event, then just maybe the atmosphere would have been up to this Grip’s standards,” a third fan wrote.
The PGA Tour last held a regular event at Medinah at the 2019 BMW Championship. Before Thursday, the course had not hosted a significant Tour event in seven years.
The Ryder Cup comparison landed with another group of fans. Another fan said, “So Ryder Cup we’re told to dial it back… now we’re told it’s too dialed back. Once again, ‘golf culture’ fucks up a fun, team event that we rarely get to watch.”
The 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage had an extremely loud and partisan atmosphere. Players encouraged that energy at Bethpage. At Medinah, with a quieter Presidents Cup crowd, Clark’s request for more noise struck some fans as contradictory.
Not every response went against Wyndham Clark. A fan acknowledged the missed opportunity from the other direction. “That quiet stretch is a real home-field edge left on the table; Medinah’s scale is a weapon when the crowd finds its voice — especially after a momentum-swinging birdie.”
Medinah Course No. 3 has hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and the famous 2012 Ryder Cup, where Europe came back from a 10-6 deficit to beat the U.S. 14.5-13.5. The venue can generate noise, but interestingly, on Thursday, it just didn’t.
Clark’s recent history with fans made his comments even more interesting. At the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, some fans openly rooted against him and cheered when he made mistakes. Before the Presidents Cup, Clark said he felt the media had helped paint him as a villain. “I’m not that person,” he said. He also said Chicago fans had shown him “all love” in the days before the event.
That made his “kind of dead” comment on Thursday stand out even more. The tone had changed quickly in just 24 hours.
Team USA leads 3-2 going into Friday’s foursomes. Clark and Morikawa will compete against Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee. Now, all eyes are on the crowd. Will Medinah bring the noise Clark is asking for?