Over the last nine months, a previously under-the-radar professional golfer has made a huge name for himself across the globe, and as he’s done so, one of St. Pete’s biggest companies has been a part of the journey. Wyndham Clark earned his latest triumph last weekend in California when he won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, notching an incredible score of 60 along the way, and in addition to his enthusiastic smile, all those championship pictures also had a tie to St. Petersburg, Florida.

When the underdog from Colorado came out of seemingly nowhere to win the PGA Tour 2023 U.S. Open last year, there were at least a few thousand Floridians in St. Pete excitedly cheering him on – and they were among the first to see the career-changing moment coming.

Wyndham Clark, who just recorded his first PGA Tour win last May, is from Denver, Colorado. Power Design, Inc., the locally owned St. Pete company that is the city’s biggest private employer, also has worked on dozens of project in Denver. Through a mutual contact in the city, Clark and Power Design leadership ended up meeting, and quickly took a liking to each other.

Perhaps Power Design saw something in Clark that reminded them of their own story: a talented, hardworking underdog determined to make a mark on his industry. After all, Power Design was started by three people working around a dining room table that had been converted into a temporary office. And look at them now.

So with Clark, Power Design tried something new; something they hadn’t done before. The company had worked with the Valspar Championship plenty in the past – hosted annually at the Innisbrook Golf and Spa Resort – and several members of the executive team were already big golf fans. So, they decided to take a chance on Clark and officially came on as his sponsor for the Valspar Championship back in March of 2023.

Clark had what was then one of the best rounds of his career, and together, he and Power Design decided to continue the relationship, signing a 24-month deal. From then on, any time Clark took the course, Power Design would be right there on his shirt, proudly affixed to the front of his polo.

Less than two months later, Clark got his first-ever PGA Tour win, taking home the Wells Fargo Championship in May. One month later, Clark shocked much of the golfing world when he stormed to the top of the field in one of the most highly-anticipated U.S. Opens in years, and brought home the title – for himself, and for his only local sponsor, Power Design.

Cheers erupted at the course in Los Angeles as Clark was crowned champion, just as thousands back in Florida were following along as the man representing their company took the world of golf by storm. There he was – Power Design polo and all.

Of course, many more than just Power Design employees were watching. It was one of pro golf’s biggest events of the year, and Power Design tells us that Clark’s victory – and the enusing coverage of his breakthrough win – resulted in more than 2.1 billion views for the company in terms of media reach. That’s more than a quarter of the world’s entire population.

Lucky for Power Design, they had just rolled out their new website, perfectly timed for all the extra traffic. And truly, all of it was perfectly timed, for golfer and sponsor alike. With a shared work ethic and a common vision, the pair made it to the top. And for the next two years, at least, they’ll continue down this path together.

Clark’s latest win, a record-setter at Pebble Beach, is yet another example of the rewards reaped from years of hard work – a lesson Power Design knows well.