WYNDHAM CLARK has taken a brutal swipe at LIV Golf after the opening round of the masters.

The US Open champion did not have the best of starts to The Masters after falling to one-over-par 73.

However, that did not stop the 30-year-old from Denver, CO, USA, from starting the mind games with Masters leader Bryson DeChambeau.

DeChambeau, 30, set the pace in round one by hitting seven-under-par 65.

Speaking after the first round of action, which is his first appearance in Augusta, Clark was spirited about his chances of catching the California-born American.

In a 17-word answer, he sniped: “Yeah, we’ve got 54 holes.

“In LIV Golf they only play 54, so I like my chances.”

He continued: “We’ve got a lot of golf left.

“As you can see, someone shot 7 under.

“I could do that tomorrow.”

Clark, who ranks No4 in the PGA Tour world rankings, recently rejected an offer from LIV golf, explaining that the decision was made to protect his legacy.

Meanwhile, DeChambeau was one of the first big names to be lured away by the rival Saudi Arabia-backed golf body.

LIV Golf employs a controversial 54-hole format, though recent big money LIV signing Jon Rahm has called on bosses to move to the traditional 72-hole format used by most global major tours.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Rahm said: “If there ever was a way where LIV could go to 72 holes I think it would help all of this argument a lot.

“The closer I think we can get LIV Golf to some other things the better. I think it would be for some kind of unification to feed into a world tour or something like that.

“I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but I definitely wouldn’t mind going back to 72 holes.”

The comments come despite Rahm signing a contract said to be worth £450million.