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Wyndham Clark is a two-time US Open champion, hanging on for a win at Shinnecock Hills.
Wire-to-wire for Wyndham
Wyndham Clark is a two-time, bi-coastal US Open champion, winning the 126th edition at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club by a single shot over Sam Burns, whose closing 67 applied the most pressure after Clark entered the closing day six clear of the field.
Clark, who won a record $4.5 million as the winner’s share of the purse, struggled on the front nine, dropping shots to open the door to Burns, who was making his push with a birdie barrage. Clark made three bogeys on the front nine, but the decision to hit a cut-bullet driver on the tricky 10th proved key, leading to a birdie that helped stop the bleeding. From there, Clark found some more comfort, though he was clearly still on edge considering the situation and the partisan crowd rooting for Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler, Clark’s playing partner on Sunday, however, opened with bogey after a misjudged approach on the first shot. Scheffler could never gain the momentum needed to truly track down Clark, and Scheffler’s back-nine approach play was never paid off by his putter.
It was an unlikely birdie that proved key for Clark. After pulling his tee shot well left on the long par-5 16th, Clark made a powerful play to get back in the fairway and eventually within 25 feet of the flag with his third shot. When hit putt trickled in over the edge, that got him back to 5-under total and back to a multi-shot cushion.
Clark didn’t even hit the hole on a four-foot par putt on the par-3 17th, and a bad drive on the 490-yard 18th had Sam Burns thinking of a potential playoff. Clark managed to find the green in two from a tough lie that he thought would jump more. Then, like in 2023, Clark two-putted from long distance to secure the victory.
In the end, three players — Clark, Burns and fellow birthday boy Tom Kim — finished under par for the week, but the big winner was the player who opened with 64 and needed every bit of that first-round edge to earn a second major title, getting all of the benefits of being a national champion.
There should be no panic from Scottie Scheffler
It’s really hard to be the favorite, particularly the prohibitive one, and yet Scottie Scheffler found himself in the final group on Sunday, despite finding himself on the wrong side of the draw on Thursday and Friday.
He made a mistake out of the gate on Sunday, dropping a shot on the first hole when he needed to gain a shot as quickly as possible. He didn’t start pulling closer to Wyndham Clark on Sunday until the par-5 fifth hole, when a two-shot swing seemingly got Scheffler into motion.
However, leaving his first bunker shot in the sand on the par-3 seventh was a momentum killer from which Scheffler never really recovered. He was fortunate to birdie the 10th before Wyndham Clark could match him, and then Scheffler basically gave the line to Clark on two birdie putts in a four-hole stretch. (Clark converted neither.)
Scheffler just didn’t have enough with the putter to win on his 30th birthday and complete the career Grand Slam in his first opportunity. However, no golfer gets to the precipice of that achievement without being a special player. The world No. 1 could well just be hitting his peak, and there’s still a venue left this year in Royal Birkdale that plays to his strengths.
Still, people looking for the next Tiger Woods may be disappointed to learn that Scheffler is much more like Jack Nicklaus. Scheffler’s intelligent, often conservative style puts him in position to win as often as anyone in history. What often determines Scheffler’s success is those mid-range putts that the Texan has almost too often. Over the long haul, though, Scheffler’s approach clearly works — against weak and strong fields, on easy and tough golf courses alike.
In the last 13 majors played, Scottie Scheffler has 10 top-10 finishes and three wins. Any golfer on the planet would be thrilled with those results. He was just a little off this week, but it won’t be that way for long.
The Links
I hope you enjoyed our US Open coverage this week. Jay Flemma did a great job writing articles for us from New York, and we’ll still have more to come to put a bow on this third men’s major of the year.
In the week’s other event, Miyu Yamashita beat Lottie Woad on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan on the LPGA Tour. Yamashita, already a major winner at the AIG Women’s Open, gets a second win on the LPGA, denying Woad her second win of the year. They’re major hunting next week, as the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is at Hazeltine.
The PGA Tour will be in Connecticut for the Travelers Championship, the final Signature event of the year. Rory McIlroy is skipping, but 43 of the world top 50 are playing.
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