It's time to place Wyndham Clark in the elite tier of golfers

This shouldn't be a surprising performance from the budding superstar, but it is for some odd reason. Heading into the tournament, Clark was priced as high as 55-1 to win The Players Championship. Cameron Young, Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg are just a few of the puzzling names who had lower odds than Clark, and they have one combined PGA Tour win between the three of them. 

Clark, on the other hand, has three wins in the last 10 months. He won the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship, a signature event on the PGA Tour, by four shots for his first victory. A month later, he won the U.S. Open in just his seventh major championship start. Earlier this season, he won the shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am after breaking the course record with a 12-under 60 in the third round. He also finished solo second to an unconscious Scottie Scheffler at last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, continuing his stellar run in the big events. 

Clark is now ranked No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but you would barely know it by the lack of media attention he gets. He ranks only 21st in Data Golf's player rankings and is rarely mentioned on any top-10 golfers in the world list. 

The University of Oregon product mashes the ball off the tee and putts beautifully, which is a hard combination to master in today's era. He ranks 11th on the PGA Tour this season in driving distance, 12th in club head speed and sixth in putting average.  

On top of all that, Clark is brimming with confidence. Remember when he stated he was better than Rory McIlroy?

"He is obviously one of the best of all time and he is still going so he can be that. I have tons of respect for Rory and because of that respect, I also want to beat him," Clark told Golf Today ahead of the 2023 Ryder Cup. "I like to think I am better than him and I want to prove that."

We should've known then that he was a force to be reckoned with. 

Clark is in line to win his second signature event in 2024 and his fourth tournament in the last 10 months. Stop pricing him in the betting market behind players who don't win and ranking him outside the top 10 on the PGA Tour. Clark deserves to be mentioned among the game's elite.