NASSAU, The Bahamas – A smiling Wyndham Clark was a rare sight for much of 2025. Little went right for the former U.S. Open champion as his ball-striking deteriorated and his mood worsened. Making drastic adjustments midseason proved difficult, and nothing Clark tried worked.

So, as Clark walked to the media area Thursday afternoon after his first round at the Hero World Challenge, the slight grin that he couldn’t seem to wipe off was notable. Finally, there was something to smile about – for now, and potentially for 2026.

Clark shot an opening-round 66 at the Hero World Challenge, his best competitive round since July, and his first data point that everything he’s been working on with his new coach has begun to set in.

Clark’s rise to a three-time TOUR winner, major champion and Ryder Cupper has been done mostly solo. He’s leaned on his caddie, John Ellis, and mental coach, Julie Elion, but when it comes to his swing, Clark rose to prominence without a dedicated coach. He’d have the occasional visit with Butch Harmon, but those were sporadic and surface-level.

That changed this offseason. While he was back in his home state of Colorado, Clark bumped into Pat Coyner, the new director of instruction for Cherry Hills. The two got to talking and, naturally, Clark’s game came up. The two bounced ideas off each other, and Clark liked what he had to say.

“I started hitting it better, and I said, ‘Alright, why don't you come help me?’" Clark said Thursday.

The two began officially working just before the Baycurrent Classic, though they hadn’t made many changes. Clark finished 45th in Japan, then missed the cut at the World Wide Technology Championship. That’s when the duo really went to work. The goal: Get Clark’s swing back to what it looked like in 2023, when Clark broke through with two wins, including the U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club.

Coyner and Clark worked to keep the club face more open through impact, counterintuitive for most but beneficial for him. Slowly, the left miss that inhibited Clark for most of the season started to straighten out and follow Clark’s patented cut shot.

Clark had pushed back against the idea that he needed a full-time coach in recent years, because when he had previously had one, he found himself focusing on his golf swing rather than playing golf. Things looked great on video. He was hitting every angle, but he just wasn’t playing golf. Once he started to just hit shots, good things started happening. But his swing slowly got out of place. After winning seasons in ‘23 and ‘24, Clark notched only two top 10s and never truly threatened contention in any events. He fell to 84th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 154th in SG: Approach, categories he used to excel in.

“Off the tee, I was terrible, and my iron play wasn't as good,” he said. “You hit it bad off the tee, makes it harder to hit it into the green better.”

That made the season downright miserable. Clark finished outside the top 50, missing the BMW Championship and automatic spots in the 2026 Signature Events. A “really poor” year, he called it Thursday. After making the U.S. team for the previous two national competitions, Clark was well outside consideration for Keegan Bradley’s squad at Bethpage Black.

Clark will have some work to do to get back on the radar for many of those things. Stringing together four good rounds in the Bahamas would be a good start.

“I wouldn't change anything,” Clark said, reflecting on the struggles, “it's just now I have someone to check in on me.”