Wyndham Clark survived a tricky layout and outplayed some of the game’s most well-known players to win the 123rd U.S. Open on Sunday at Los Angeles Country Club.
In his seventh major start, Clark shot an even-par 70 to win his first major. Three starts after his debut victory at the Wells Fargo Championship, a designated tournament, last month, he has already won his second PGA Tour championship.
The 29-year-old beat Rory McIlroy by one stroke to finish at 10 under par. Cam Smith (67) finished alone in fourth place at 6 under, three shots behind Scottie Scheffler (70), who ended in third place. Rickie Fowler tied for fifth place with a 5-over-par 75.
“Knowing that this is my second victory on the PGA Tour, both the first and this ones are unbelievable. I’m still processing it. It was quite emotional to walk up 18 and then to finish. But yes, the previous five or six weeks have been a whirlwind. I feel incredibly fortunate and humbled to be here.” Clark said.
McIlroy compared it to the Open Championship he lost to Smith in the final rounds at St Andrew’s last year because he couldn’t make putts fall.
This Sunday, birdies weren’t as important, but McIlroy didn’t make enough. In actuality, he just aced his first hole. A 70 would be one birdie and one bogey.
With three birdies and a bogey over his opening seven holes on Sunday, Clark, who had shared the overnight lead with Fowler, set the early pace. Meanwhile, Fowler bogeyed holes Nos. 2, 5, and 7.
Fowler dropped five positions, leaving McIlroy as Clark’s main rival. The Northern Irishman made his opening par-5 a birdie before parring the next nine holes to maintain his 10-under score.
At the eighth par-5, Clark, who was 12 under par, encountered difficulty when his second shot landed in dense grass short of the green. His third attempt was unsuccessful, and his fourth attempt was blasted through the putting green. Following an excellent pitch shot to the ninth hole, Clark made a 7-footer for par to avoid making a bogey and move ahead of McIlroy by one stroke at the halfway point.
Thanks to a birdie at hole No. 8, when he gained a two-shot advantage over Clark, Fowler was able to close the gap on the field to three shots.
A wild bogey at the seventh hole was exchanged for a simple two-putt birdie at the eighth, which was Scheffler’s sole scoring hole on the outward half, to enter the final nine holes four back.
However, a four-player contest was immediately reduced to two when Scheffler and Fowler both played shots into the same greenside bunker on the 11th par-3, both of which resulted in a bogey. They both bogeyed the 12th just for good measure.
McIlroy was one group ahead of Clark as they faced off in the match. It was par after par for the 2011 U.S. Open winner. He missed birdie putts of 4 feet or less at holes 8, 9, 10, and 11, as well as ones of 12 feet, 15 feet, and 18 feet. But he didn’t make any bogeys.
While Clark struggled to escape squares hole after hole, McIlroy was hitting 12 of his opening 13 greens and successfully two-putting.
The 14th par-5 hole followed. When McIlroy laid up to 125 yards after driving it into the left rough, his wedge attempt to the short side of the green failed. He was able to escape the bunker after his ball got stuck in the grass above it. McIlroy took a drop in the greenside rough, pitched to 9 feet, and missed par again this time.
“I think the shot wasn’t timed precisely. It certainly missed since I struck it when the wind was at its maximum and the ball was repeatedly smacked by the wind. I believe I made the right club and shot if I could take it back. I might have only needed to wait an additional 15 or 20 seconds for that small gust to pass.” McIlroy talked about his approach.
When McIlroy left the 14th green two back and at 9 under, Clark had the field wide open. Clark finally fired a fairway club from 282 yards out to 20 feet after a lengthy delay. With four holes remaining, he two-putted for a birdie, his first since the sixth hole, to increase his lead to three.
All of those shots were necessary for him.
Clark made a careless bogey at the 139-yard, 15th par-3 hole (the only bogey of the day for anyone in the field) and then mishit his tee shot into a fairway bunker on the 16th par-4 hole. He laid up and then struck a wedge from 133 yards out to 7 feet.
McIlroy teed off on the 18th hole’s 502-yard, par-4 hole one back and drove it 321 yards down the right side of the fairway. He backed off his approach shot before pulling an iron 41 feet left of the hole with 181 yards still to go.
His attempt to make a birdie and tie for the lead rolled off the right edge.
McIlroy completed the final round of the St. Andrews Open eleven months ago by making 36 putts on all 18 greens. He required one too many swipes on Sunday despite hitting 15 greens.
“The more I continue to put myself in these situations, eventually it will happen for me. I only need to refocus and recharge for Hoylake in a few weeks,” stated McIlroy, who won his last major at Royal Liverpool in 2014.
It’s going to be so nice when I finally win the following major. I would endure 100 Sundays exactly like this to win another major championship.
In the end, Clark needed two putts to prevail. He hit the green in two at hole number 18, but it was 60 feet away after a brilliant up-and-down at the 17th to save par.
Clark calmly rolled his birdie putt to within 2 feet and tapped in for par and the victory as the crowd was permitted to surround the green.
