Wyndham Clark says the USA being a fresher team could prove the difference against a European side that could suffer from mental fatigue later in the week, as they look to snap their 30-year Ryder Cup losing streak.
Clark has been making headlines in the build-up even if he didn’t mean to, as he again insisted his comments about Rory McIlroy were taken out of context, and now he’s talked about Europe’s possible mental weakness.
The USA haven’t won a Ryder Cup in Europe since 1993, but US Open champion Clarke says he’s confident Zach Johnson’s team can end that streak in Rome this week.
The two teams have had slightly different build-ups, with Team USA largely resting up for the last few weeks while all 12 Europeans played at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and many at the Irish Open the week before.
Clark says that while being the busier of the two could have helped Europe play into form, he feels that the USA being fresher, especially mentally, could be a big positive going down the stretch.
“I think the European team, it’s great that they got to play, but I also think they might be maybe a little mentally fatigued as this week goes on,” Clark said at Marco Simone Golf Club.
“This is obviously a very intense environment and mentally challenging, and then also you put in a pretty physically demanding golf course being so hilly and up and down that maybe come Sunday they might be leaking oil and we’ll be fresh.”
This year the USA have a number of players who have not yet tasted the atmosphere of a Ryder Cup on the road, but Clark is confident their winning mentality from dominating the amateur team events could help them.
After watching so many USA Ryder Cup teams come unstuck on their travels, Clark is confident that the visitors can finally end that hoodoo.
“I think our current team right now, we have so many guys that have not played a foreign Ryder Cup, an away game, if you will. I think that ignorance is bliss in my opinion,” Clark added.
“We have guys like Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa and Collin Morikawa and myself that have played on Walker Cup and Palmer Cup teams where we dominated, and all we know in our years is how to win, both away and at…
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