After first pitch at Tigers game, Wyndham Clark hopes he doesn’t strike out at Rocket Classic

DETROIT — Wyndham Clark threw a strike at the Tigers game. But the reigning U.S. Open champion struck out in Round 1 of the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club on Thursday.

While much of the field was going super-low early, Clark struggled to a 1-over 71 and will need to go low Friday to make the cut into the weekend.

Either way, it’s not likely to dampen his season — he’s won twice, including his second major championship — or his week, given Michigan has become a bit of an adopted home.

“I mean, I’ve always enjoyed coming here,” Clark said this week. “Now, I have a little more of a family relationship here. My girlfriend’s from this area, so that makes it really fun.

“Kind of a home week, it feels like.”

Clark, 32, is dating Metro Detroit native Emily Tanner, 31, an Instagram model, social-media influencer and Michigan State alumna who also is enjoying her week back home.

Clark lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Tanner lives in Los Angeles, but they’ve been doing a bit of summering in Michigan, including some lake time over the July 4 holiday. Tanner and her friends and family were expected in the gallery all week at Detroit Golf Club.

“For her to come home, see her friends and kind of show me her stomping grounds has been amazing,” Clark said.

Before the tournament started Thursday, Clark and Tanner attended Tuesday night’s Tigers-Baltimore Orioles game at Comerica Park, where Clark threw the ceremonial first pitch — and it was a beauty, a fastball right down the middle. Tigers third-base coach Billy Boyer caught the pitch and told Clark it was the best first pitch of the season.

Clark wore a No. 2 Tigers jersey, perhaps for his two U.S. Opens, the latest coming last month at Shinnecock Hills in New York, where he celebrated with an embrace of Tanner on the 18th green.

Clark has called Tanner his “good-luck charm” since they started dating. They went public at the Masters in April, when she caddied for him in that week’s Par 3 Contest.

“It’s just fun to be there and support him,” Tanner told Johnny Kane on Detroit SportsNet before Tuesday’s Tigers game. “And, you know, watching someone you love do what they love.”

Right down the middle 🔥

Perfect strike from @Wyndham_Clark‘s first pitch last night.@Tigers | @MLBpic.twitter.com/6ZfD69ug2r

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 29, 2026

Clark was loving his round early Thursday, but not so much late. Starting on the back nine, he made birdies at the par-5 14th and par-3 15th to get to 2 under, but he stumbled on the back with bogeys at the long par-4 sixth and seventh holes. Clark also found the left bunker on the long par-3 ninth and couldn’t get up-and-down, finishing with 71 to leave him 10 shots back of early leader Peter Malnati.

Clark has been on a heater since May, with four top-10s in seven starts, including two wins. He missed the cut in his last tournament, the British Open earlier this month.

He’s ranked ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking and fourth in the FedEx Cup Playoffs standings. Clark is playing the Rocket Classic for the fourth time. He finished tied for eighth in 2022.

“A bummer that we’re not coming back next year,” Clark said. The Rocket Classic is finished after this year, but Clark won’t be a stranger. After all, he’s got many more lakes to see, and, oh, the Tigers still need bullpen help.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: After first pitch at Tigers game, Wyndham Clark hopes he doesn’t strike out at Rocket Classic