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PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Wyndham Clark and caddie John Ellis have split.
After eight years, they have gone their separate ways in what they are both describing as a mutual decision. Clark has Dave Pelekoudas, otherwise known as “Big Wave Dave,” on the bag this week at the Valspar Championship, where Clark opened with 1-under 70 on Thursday.
“We had a good run,” Clark told Golfweek after his first round at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course. “We both just felt like it was time to move on and we wanted to choose our friendship over the job. It’s been kind of a tough last year of golf and we both mutually were like, alright, let’s just take a little break and reassess maybe later.”
Asked if he thought they might get back together, he said, “I don’t know, but you never know.”
More: Valspar Championship leaderboard updates for Friday's second round
Theirs is a working relationship forged at the University of Oregon in 2016 after Clark transferred there from Oklahoma State for his senior year. At the same time, Ellis’s pro career was fizzling out and he returned to his alma mater as an assistant to Casey Martin.
Ellis did such a good job grooming Clark, who was Golfweek’s Collegiate Player of the Year in 2017, that when he struggled on the Korn Ferry Tour after turning pro, Clark texted Ellis an image of a sinking ship and asked him to caddie for him temporarily. Ellis immediately helped Clark stay afloat and earn his PGA Tour card and went to work for Clark full-time.
During their eight-year run, Clark won the Wells Fargo Championship and U.S. Open in 2023 and the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which included a course-record 60 at Pebble. Clark later gave Ellis a custom-made Oregon Ducks green Rolex watch to commemorate their slice of history. Clark also played on the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team and 2024 Presidents Cup, and reached as high as No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Clark has slipped to No. 67 and failed to make the top 50 on last year’s FedEx Cup list and isn’t in all of the signature events this season. He also had two very public incidents at majors where his temper got the better of him.
"When things aren’t going great and I care more about, you know, Wyndham and I’s friendship, you know, we’re friends before business, and things just weren't right,” Ellis explained on Sirius XM’s Gravy & The Sleeze Show. “Something had to give and it felt like it was just time, maybe, you know, a different voice for both of us would help.”
Ellis was awarded the inaugural U.S. Open Caddie Award in 2023, and is credited for his part in an intervention of sorts that resulted in Clark working with noted mental coach Julie Elion, who has helped him work through some of his underlying issues related to the death of his mother.
“As of right now, I’m taking one week at a time, giving Big Wave a two-week trial. He’s a good friend and I know he’s a good caddie. I said I’ll give him two weeks for sure and then reassess after that,” Clark said.
He added that he and Ellis had discussed breaking up even before The Players, but the two decided it was time to go their separate ways after Sunday’s final round. “We both agreed that a little change up could be the difference for me to get back to playing some good golf,” Clark said.
Ellis tried to dispel any rumors that the two had a falling out, telling Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, “if I get on Instagram it looks like there’s a lot of hatred, but there’s no hatred for Wyndham and I. We are still friends. We texted yesterday, it’s all good,” Ellis said. “It’s part of the business and I’m going to still root for him and surely he will root for me, whatever I do after this.”
Ellis likely will be in high demand and could lead to several more moves on the caddie carousel.
Clark got off to a solid start with his new bagman in the first round. That included recording the longest drive of the season, a 446-yard wallop at No. 10 and the longest drive at the Valspar Championship since 2003.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Wyndham Clark and caddie John Ellis split
Continue reading...
After eight years, they have gone their separate ways in what they are both describing as a mutual decision. Clark has Dave Pelekoudas, otherwise known as “Big Wave Dave,” on the bag this week at the Valspar Championship, where Clark opened with 1-under 70 on Thursday.
“We had a good run,” Clark told Golfweek after his first round at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course. “We both just felt like it was time to move on and we wanted to choose our friendship over the job. It’s been kind of a tough last year of golf and we both mutually were like, alright, let’s just take a little break and reassess maybe later.”
Asked if he thought they might get back together, he said, “I don’t know, but you never know.”
More: Valspar Championship leaderboard updates for Friday's second round
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Theirs is a working relationship forged at the University of Oregon in 2016 after Clark transferred there from Oklahoma State for his senior year. At the same time, Ellis’s pro career was fizzling out and he returned to his alma mater as an assistant to Casey Martin.
Ellis did such a good job grooming Clark, who was Golfweek’s Collegiate Player of the Year in 2017, that when he struggled on the Korn Ferry Tour after turning pro, Clark texted Ellis an image of a sinking ship and asked him to caddie for him temporarily. Ellis immediately helped Clark stay afloat and earn his PGA Tour card and went to work for Clark full-time.
During their eight-year run, Clark won the Wells Fargo Championship and U.S. Open in 2023 and the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which included a course-record 60 at Pebble. Clark later gave Ellis a custom-made Oregon Ducks green Rolex watch to commemorate their slice of history. Clark also played on the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team and 2024 Presidents Cup, and reached as high as No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Clark has slipped to No. 67 and failed to make the top 50 on last year’s FedEx Cup list and isn’t in all of the signature events this season. He also had two very public incidents at majors where his temper got the better of him.
"When things aren’t going great and I care more about, you know, Wyndham and I’s friendship, you know, we’re friends before business, and things just weren't right,” Ellis explained on Sirius XM’s Gravy & The Sleeze Show. “Something had to give and it felt like it was just time, maybe, you know, a different voice for both of us would help.”
Ellis was awarded the inaugural U.S. Open Caddie Award in 2023, and is credited for his part in an intervention of sorts that resulted in Clark working with noted mental coach Julie Elion, who has helped him work through some of his underlying issues related to the death of his mother.
“As of right now, I’m taking one week at a time, giving Big Wave a two-week trial. He’s a good friend and I know he’s a good caddie. I said I’ll give him two weeks for sure and then reassess after that,” Clark said.
He added that he and Ellis had discussed breaking up even before The Players, but the two decided it was time to go their separate ways after Sunday’s final round. “We both agreed that a little change up could be the difference for me to get back to playing some good golf,” Clark said.
Ellis tried to dispel any rumors that the two had a falling out, telling Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, “if I get on Instagram it looks like there’s a lot of hatred, but there’s no hatred for Wyndham and I. We are still friends. We texted yesterday, it’s all good,” Ellis said. “It’s part of the business and I’m going to still root for him and surely he will root for me, whatever I do after this.”
Ellis likely will be in high demand and could lead to several more moves on the caddie carousel.
Clark got off to a solid start with his new bagman in the first round. That included recording the longest drive of the season, a 446-yard wallop at No. 10 and the longest drive at the Valspar Championship since 2003.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Wyndham Clark and caddie John Ellis split
Continue reading...
