Wyndham Clark Wins US Open

Only weeks after picking up his first PGA Tour win at the Wells Fargo championship, Wyndham Clark claimed US Open victory at the LA Country Club on Sunday. 

Wyndham Clark held off a trio of major champions – Rory McIlroy (2nd), Scottie Scheffler (3rd) and Cameron Smith (4th) – to win his first major championship and second PGA tour title.

The American becomes the fifth straight player to win his first major championship at the U.S. Open.

Rory McIlroy's nine-year wait for a fifth major win goes on after he was beaten by a single shot after a string of missed birdie opportunities on the final day. McIlroy finished second for his 19th top-10 in majors since his most recent title in 2014, the most of any player in that span.

Clark began the final round in a share of the lead with Rickie Fowler, who struggled to a closing 75, and hung tough on an increasingly difficult Sunday afternoon with a series of crafty par-saves, capped off with a two-putt par from 59 feet on the closing hole to post even-par 70 and outlast McIlroy, who made 16 pars, a birdie and a bogey from the penultimate pairing.

The American went nearly five years without a victory before breaking through at last month’s Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club, a course where driving distance – one of Clark’s strengths – is rewarded.

Clark, 29, used a similar formula around LACC, pushing the ball down the fairway to yield short-iron approaches into the venue’s slick greens. The University of Oregon alum finished No. 2 for the week in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, ranking seventh in distance and 24th in accuracy, and he placed No. 4 in Strokes Gained: Putting. The combination proved potent.

We saw both sides of McIlroy on Sunday. At times, the blend of discipline and patience that only comes when you’ve won a handful of majors was there. At other times, the most inopportune times, the 34-year-old showed the nerves typical for a hopeful first-time winner.

With only Clark standing in his way for much of the back nine, McIlroy was solid but unable to convert that one wedge or that one putt that would have put him over the edge. It was the difference alone between long-awaited jubilation and heartbreak. His final-round 70 left him one shot short.

Rickie Fowler made 21 birdies through three days. He made just two on Sunday. That was the story for the resurgent Fowler, who couldn’t conjure up the same firepower in the final round as the mistakes finally caught up to him.

While his 23 birdies are a new U.S. Open record, his 18 bogeys were the most among anyone in the top 30. And the seven in his final round proved particularly costly as Fowler’s final-round 75 dashed his hopes for a maiden major championship victory.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler finished in third place for his Tour-leading 13th top-10 finish of the season and has now finished T12 or better in each of his last 16 starts. It has become a common refrain in golf media circles of late - Scheffler is magnetized to the leaderboard. No matter the severity of adversity thrown at him, or the length of a dry spell on the greens, he’ll be there at the end. His ball-striking is too good to expect otherwise.

Cameron Smith was the highest placed LIV Golf player a the championship, finishing 4th on -6 with his characteristic near-faultless putting on strong display.

Despite a shaky start and finishing just above the cut after the second round, Tommy Fleetwood (T5) was in resurgent form on Sunday and posted a 7-under round to own two of the three lowest final-rounds in U.S. Open history:  63 – Johnny Miller (Oakmont, 1973/won), 63 – Fleetwood (Shinnecock Hills, 2018/2nd), 63 – Fleetwood (Los Angeles Country Club, 2023/T5). 

Australia's Min Woo Lee also ended the championship on five under, whilst World number two Jon Rahm also signed for a five-under 65 to finish at three under in a tie for 10th.  Defending Champion Matt Fitzpatrick finished T17 on -1 alongside US PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka.