“I chose my legacy over LIV Golf” - AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am champion Wyndham Clark reveals why he turned down LIV’s hefty paycheck

Wyndham Clark won the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this weekend. The 30-year-old golfer registered his first-ever signature event win after the PGA Tour event was trimmed to 54 holes due to bad weather. The victory saw the golfer bag a whopping $3.6 million paycheck from the event’s $20,000,000 prize purse.

It is pertinent to note that Clark’s decision to stay on the PGA Tour has quickly paid off. The golfer, who turned down a big-money offer from the Saudi-backed series, took his career on-course earnings to $19,454,055 on Sunday. The 2023 US Open champion is currently 92nd on the PGA Tour’s all-time money list.

Commenting on his decision to stay on the circuit, Clark, who also broke the course record at Pebble Beach this weekend, said that he ‘chose his legacy’ over LIV and added that he wanted to chase records.

Clark, who confirmed rumors of getting an offer from LIV Golf, said in a virtual press conference after he won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, as quoted by Golfweek:

“I wanted to see what they could bring to the table. I ultimately declined going to LIV because I felt like I still have a lot of things left in the tank on the PGA Tour and I wanted to chase records, I wanted to chase world ranking. My dream is to try to be one of the top players in the world if not the top player. I just grew up always imagining winning PGA Tour events. So, I ultimately, I chose my legacy over LIV… that’s really what it came down to.”

Wyndham Clark’s 54-hole win at Pebble Beach makes him eligible for several PGA Tour exemptions along with 700 FedEx Cup points and a big paycheck. The golfer, who won the US Open last June, is eligible to play as the major champion for the next 10 years. He will also get automatic exemptions in the other three majors for the next five years.

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Wyndham Clark is '100 per cent' set on the PGA Tour

For the unversed, Clark was one of the names rumored to join Jon Rahm’s new LIV team. However, the one-time major winner rejected the offer.

Wyndham Clark added:

“I felt like if I was going to make a life-changing decision, I wanted to make sure I did all the right things and call the right people, get the right information, understand what both tours are doing, what I should do, et cetera…

I don’t know what the future holds with my career and what the PGA Tour and LIV is going to do, but at least for this season I am 100 per cent set on the PGA Tour and I want to try to get to as high in the world as I possibly can.”

Furthermore, Wyndham Clark credited PGA Tour policy board members Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods for helping him to decide between staying on the American circuit. It is noteworthy that Clark still hasn’t fully denied the chances of changing his stance in the future.