Wyndham Clark has questioned the captaincy of former Team USA skipper Zach Johnson, after comparing his leadership to that of Jim Furyk at the recent Presidents Cup.

Clark made his Ryder Cup debut under Johnson in Rome last year, but things ended sourly, as the Americans were defeated 16.5-11.5 at the hands of their European rivals. Fast forward 12 months and Clark finally tasted victory with Team USA, playing his part in the Presidents Cup win over the Internationals.

Having now competed in both under two separate captains, the former U.S. Open champion has had time to compare the work of both Johnson and Furyk, and opted to side with the latter.

For Clark, his career issue with Johnson centered around his lack of clarity in regard to playing partners, something Furyk was seemingly good at. “I’ll give you an example,” he told the No Laying Up podcast of Furyk’s impressive work as a captain.

“On the Saturday where we had the 36-hole day at the Presidents Cup, he told me, ‘OK Wyndham, I’m going to put you and Keegan [Bradley] out in the morning and I’m going to sit you in the afternoon. Are you good with that?’” When it came to the Ryder Cup and Johnson though, things were different.

“Honestly one of the biggest shocks when I played for the team in Rome was just that I didn’t really know who I was playing with,” he commented. I didn’t really know the situation, so I was just out there on the range and somebody would come up and say, ‘OK Wyndham, you’re going with so-and-so.’

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Zach Johnson endured a tough Ryder Cup

Zach Johnson endured a tough Ryder Cup ( 

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“I was like, ‘OK, well, I didn’t really play a practice round with him.’ So it was just disjointed.” This lack of preparation appeared to make things much harder for the PGA Tour and his fellow American teammates. “It’s just crazy to me,” Clark continued. You can prepare mentally.

You can say, ‘OK, I’ve only got to prepare for the morning, it is best ball, so I’m going to go and make sure that I have my best game and go out there and win and I’m going to be thinking about birdies.’ Or, if it was alternate shot you start visualising like, ‘Hey, I know I’m just playing alternate shot so I’m going to visualise my tee shots, the putts I’m going to have, or the iron shots I’m going to have in.’

“I mean, it sounds like a no-brainer.” Having not played in the foursomes, Clark featured twice in the fourballs in Rome, going unbeaten despite his concerns. He and Max Homa shared a point against Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre on day one, before he beat Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick alongside Patrick Cantlay on day two, infamously remembered for McIlroy later clashing with Cantlay’s caddie Joe LaCava.