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.
Clark shot even-par 70 to earn his first major victory in his seventh major start. It’s his second PGA Tour title, coming three starts after his maiden win last month at the Wells Fargo Championship, a designated event.
The 29-year-old finished at 10 under par, one clear of Rory McIlroy. Scottie Scheffler (70) finished three back, in third place, with Cam Smith (67) alone in fourth place at 6 under. Rickie Fowler shot 5-over 75 to tie for fifth.
“You know, this is now my second win on the PGA Tour and first one was surreal and this one is surreal. It hasn’t quite hit me yet. Walking up 18 was pretty emotional, and then finishing,” Clark said. “But yeah, it’s been a whirlwind of the last five, six weeks. It’s been – just so blessed and humbled to be here.”
For McIlroy, it was shades of last year’s Open Championship at St. Andrews, where he couldn’t get putts to fall in the final round and fell to Smith.
Birdies weren’t as significant this Sunday, but McIlroy didn’t make enough. In fact, he just made one, on his first hole. One birdie, one bogey for a 70.
Clark, who shared the overnight lead with Fowler, set the early Sunday pace with three birdies and a bogey over his first seven holes. Fowler, meanwhile, bogeyed Nos. 2, 5 and 7.
With Fowler falling five back, Clark’s closest competitor was McIlroy. The Northern Irishman birdied the par-5 first, but then parred out on the front nine to stay stuck at 10 under.
Full-field scores from U.S. Open
Clark, at 12 under, ran into trouble at the par-5 eighth, when his second shot settled in thick fescue short of the green. He whiffed on his third shot and blasted his fourth through the putting surface. Clark was able to save bogey and then made a 7-footer for par at the ninth – following a brilliant pitch shot to that position – to make the turn with a one-stroke advantage over McIlroy.
Fowler managed to stay in the mix, thanks to a birdie at No. 8, the resultant two-shot swing with Clark allowing him to cut his deficit to three.
Scheffler, meanwhile, entered the closing nine four back, trading a wild bogey at the seventh for a routine two-putt birdie at the eighth, his only scoring holes on the outward half.
A four-player race quickly came down to two, however, as Scheffler and Fowler both hit into the same greenside bunker at the par-3 11th and made bogey. For good measure, they each bogeyed the 12th.
It was Clark vs. McIlroy, with McIlroy one group ahead. And for the 2011 U.S. Open champion, it was par after par after par. He missed a 4-footer for birdie at No. 8, a 12-footer at No. 9, a 15-footer at No. 10 and an 18-footer at No. 11.
But, he made no bogeys.
While Clark was scrambling, hole after hole, to avoid squares, McIlroy was hitting greens – 12 of his first 13 – and safely two-putting.
Then came the par-5 14th. After driving it into the left rough and laying up to 125 yards, McIlroy missed the green short with a wedge. His ball embedded into the grass above the face of a bunker, from which he was able to get relief. Taking a drop in the greenside rough, McIlroy pitched to 9 feet and again – but this time for par – missed.
“I feel like I didn’t time the shot perfectly,” McIlroy said of his approach. “I hit it when the wind was at its strongest and the ball just got hit a lot by the wind, and obviously it came up short. If I had it back, I think I had the right club and the right shot. I might have just had to wait an extra 15 or 20 seconds to let that little gust settle.”
McIlroy walked off the 14th green two back, at 9 under, leaving it open – literally – for Clark. After an extended wait, Clark launched a fairway wood from 282 yards to 20 feet. He two-putted for birdie, his first since the sixth hole, to extend his lead to three with four to play.
He needed every one of those shots.
Clark made a sloppy bogey at the 139-yard, par-3 15th (the only bogey of anyone in the field on that hole Sunday) and then hit his tee shot on the par-4 16th into a fairway bunker. After laying up, he hit a wedge from 133 yards to 7 feet but lipped out the par save.
McIlroy entered the 502-yard, par-4 18th one back and laced a tee shot 321 yards down the right side of the fairway. With 181 yards remaining, he first backed off his approach shot and then tugged an iron 41 feet left of the hole.
His birdie effort to tie for the lead rolled by the right edge.
Eleven months ago at St. Andrews, McIlroy hit all 18 greens and took 36 putts in the final round. This Sunday, he hit 15 greens and needed one too many swipes.
“The more I keep putting myself in these positions, sooner or later it’s going to happen for me. Just got to regroup and get focused for Hoylake in a few weeks’ time,” said McIlroy, whose last major win came at Royal Liverpool in 2014.
“When I do finally win this next major, it’s going to be really, really sweet. I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.”
Clark, ultimately, needed two putts to win. After a great up and down at the 17th to save par, he hit the green in two at No. 18, but 60 feet away.
With the crowd allowed to encircle the green, Clark calmly rolled his birdie putt to within 2 feet and tapped in for par and the victory.
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