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During the second season of Full Swing, Netflix’s behind-the-scenes reality series on the PGA Tour, the previously unheralded (some might say obscure) Colorado pro Wyndham Clark got his own storyline. His arc hit all the right emotional notes: a mother who died of breast cancer, a triumph over mental demons that spooked his self-esteem, and a dark-horse victory at the 2023 U.S. Open in Los Angeles, where he held off none other than legendary LIV troll Rory McIlroy.
So why was the gallery rooting so hard for the Valor Christian grad to choke on the six-stroke lead he carried into the final round of last month’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills? Fans cheered his bad shots, responded to his good ones with awkward silence, and, just in case Clark didn’t get the hint, reportedly shouted, “Nobody likes you!”
“Man, they definitely didn’t want me to win,” Clark said after the round.
Perhaps that’s because Clark went full Godzilla after missing the cut at the 2025 U.S. Open, smashing up Oakmont Country Club’s locker room in a fit of rage. “Super classy, desecrating one of the most historic spots in golf…,” Tron Carter of No Laying Up posted on X at the time.
https://t.co/DdClg8952U pic.twitter.com/b1bkezlT9B
— Tron Carter (@TronCarterNLU) June 15, 2025
Is “desecrating” a strong verb to use for putting some dents into a fancy restroom? Sure. But this was something of a pattern for Wyndham—or, as Carter dubbed him, “Blow Pig.” Just a month before his Oakmont meltdown, Clark had windmilled his driver into some advertising signage at the PGA Championship.
Personally, I stand by the biblical maxim of Let the golfer without tantrum cast the first stone—and that definitely ain’t me. However you feel about Clark, though, you have to admit that what he did on Sunday at Shinnecock was pretty amazing. Playing with world number one Scottie Scheffler, the gallery erupting in Schadenfeudian delight every time his Titleist trickled into the sand, Clark sent everyone home unhappy by weathering the pressure to win his second major championship. The high point—or low one, depending on your perspective—was the 24-foot birdie putt he made on 16 to basically wrap the thing up. It was a beaut, Clark.
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And that’s what makes Clark a great sports villain. It doesn’t matter whether he’s actually a bad guy (sounds like he’s not). What matters is that he seems to thrive in the hate of the moment; he has the very rare ability to rip the hearts out of a crowd united against him.
Should boos befall him this week at the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, at least he can console himself in that fact—and this one: He’s not alone. Here, a list of Colorado’s most reviled athletes (warning: some of them actually are bad guys).
Read More: Colorado’s Greatest Athletes of All Time Are…
The 5 Most Hated Colorado Sports Villains
Bill Romanowski
The RomoCop played 16 years in the NFL, six of them with the Denver Broncos. His tenure in Colorado included two Super Bowl wins (1997 and ’98). But my enduring memory of the linebacker came after he retired, when, during a 60 Minutes interview with Scott Pelley, Romanowski detailed how he once snapped a dude’s finger in a scrum. (See how his mouth moves when he mimics the snap? That’s some Hannibal Lecter rizz right there.) I’m still terrified. (I think Pelley was too.)
Romanowski’s 1997 season alone is worth enshrinement into the Bad Guy Hall of Fame. He broke the jaw of Carolina Panthers QB Kerry Collins during the preseason. Later that year, he spit in San Francisco 49ers wide receiver J.J. Stokes’ face. Determined to leave the NFL on a low note, in 2003 he attacked his own Raiders teammate Marcus Williams, crushing the tight end’s eye socket.
Read More: This is Ted Johnson’s Brain
Scott Parker
A goon by any metric, the former Colorado Avalanche enforcer fought more than 400 times and racked up nearly 700 penalty minutes during his eight-year NHL career. The Sheriff was tasked with protecting the likes of Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg during the late 1990s and early 2000s. This, according to an interview with milehighhockey.com, is how he did it: “At times, I would take two fingers and jam them down people’s throats. I would do anything I had to to send a message: You don’t [expletive] with my team.” Thank goodness it was our team. 😳
Becky Hammon
[NBA Today] Becky Hammon: [The Knicks] don’t have a dude… you got to have a 1A dude.”Kendrick Perkins: “They do have that dude.”B: “Who?”K: “Jalen Brunson.”B: “He too small. If your best player is small , you’re not winning… Steph Curry is the only dude.”
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u/rapelbaum in
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The Colorado State University All-American has all the makings of a hero. Undrafted despite leading the Rams to their first Sweet 16, Hammon played 16 seasons in the WNBA, earning six All-Star nods. When she retired in 2014, Hammon became the first female full-time assistant coach in the NBA, with the San Antonio Spurs. Today, the Las Vegas Aces pay her more than $1 million a year (she was the first WNBA coach to earn that much), which feels like a bargain given her track record: The franchise won three titles in Hammon’s first four years.
But Hammon delivered a Hans-from-Frozen-level heel turn this summer. Technically, the pivot started in December 2023, when, while serving as an ESPN analyst, she said the Knicks would never win a championship as long as the 6-foot-2 Jalen Brunson was their best player. “He’s too small. If your best player is small, you’re not winning. Steph Curry is the only dude.”
Of course, Brunson led New York to the title this year. People were outraged—outraged!—that Hammon had the audacity to state what’s basically a fact. Spike Lee even confronted her at a playoff game to demand an apology (sadly, the person he harangued was actually ESPN reporter Ramona Shelburne). In the polarizing echo chamber of sports media, this incident made Hammon a sports villain.
What makes her a great sports villain is that she refused to apologize to Brunson for doubting him. Stephen A. Smith did. Shaquille O’Neal did (indirectly, anyway). Becky Hammon? Nope. “Jalen, all he did was prove history wrong,” Hammon said. “He proves he’s an outlier, so you can put his name next to Steph Curry and Isiah Thomas. I thought he played brilliantly, especially down the stretch. I mean, he was that 1A dude. But apologize? I’m never going to apologize for having an opinion. That’s what ESPN pays me for.”
Big Van Vader
Leon White, “The Man They Call Vader,” debuted in the WWF in 1996—and promptly assaulted everyone: Shawn Michaels, officials, former allies. When the impeccably named Gorilla Monsoon, then WWF president, commanded Vader to cease his attacks, Vader attacked him, too (with his signature Vader Splash). Vader’s antics knew no boundaries: He once manhandled a Kuwaiti television host who had the gall to ask him if pro wrestling was fake.
But what most wrestling fans remember about Vader is his athleticism—a rare trait in such a monster of a man. The former CU offensive lineman tipped the scales at over 400 pounds, yet was known to twirl and flip with the grace of a rabid gazelle. When performing his Vader Bomb, White would bounce on the top rope before flying backward to land stomach-first on his opponent. He was, according to the Ringer’s Oliver Lee Bateman, “the first elephantine heel who could move like a ballerina.”
Dick Monfort
The Colorado Rockies’ historical ineptitude (nine winning records in 33 seasons) can have only one explanation: Dick Monfort hates Denver. Not since Major League has an owner so seemingly intentionally driven a franchise into the ground. But there is hope: Montfort recently sold a 40 percent stake in the team to the Penner Sports Group, the folks who own the Denver Broncos.
Read More: What Happened to the Colorado Rockies? Inside a Franchise’s Long Decline
