SOUTHAMPTON, NY – What looked like a runaway turned into a dogfight, as Wyndham Clark watched his six-shot 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open shrink to just one, but then held on for dear life on the back nine to hold off a hard-charging, fellow American Sam Burns to win on 5-under 275.
Tom Kim finished third, two shots back of Clark, while world No. 1 golfer and fellow Sunday birthday boy Scottie Scheffler finished tied for fourth with J.T. Poston and Keith Mitchell at even-par 280.
This was one of the grittiest, gutsiest, most well-deserved victories, I’ve seen in the two-puys decades I’ve covered sports. I tip my cap to Wyndham Clark for his now second U.S. Open Championship in four years, and I do it for two critical reasons.
First, he got it to the house, wire-to-wire in the U.S. Open, no ties! That is an historic feat; total dominance for three days, and then bringing it home in the clutch when he needed it most, with some of the world's best chasing him down like we were at Belmont not Shinnecock.
What did I tell you all pre-tournament? You don’t need to play great all day. You just need to play great in the clutch.
The last person to go wire-to-wire at a US Open was Germany’s Martin Kaymer in 2014. Including ties, it’s only happened nine times in 126 years. And looking at the list of names, it reads like a Who’s Who of golf: Walter Hagen, Jim Barnes, Ben Hogan, Tony Jacklin, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy. Further, among active players, only Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau have won two U.S. Opens. Clark will have a chance to go for back-to-back wins at Opens when he starts at Royal Birkdale next month at the Open Championship.
But there’s a far more crucial reason I bow to Clark today for his magnificent triumph. Far more meaningful and far deeper.
I know what it’s like to have every man’s hand stand against me.
You do too. Don’t say you don’t. At some point in your life -- some time, somewhere -- you were the underdog. You were the one nobody wanted. Close your eyes, and take a moment to recall that.
Lonely feeling, isn’t it?
Now increase that 55,000-fold.
On Sunday, Wyndham Clark really was Teddy Roosevelt’s timeless and wonderfully valorous “Man in the Arena." Thanks to his own mistakes in the limelight, including breaking clubs and damaging lockers at major championships last year, he was villified.
“Villains are good for golf. We need one, it’s been too long,” chirped one magazine writer. ESPN broadcasters made snide off-color jokes about breaking wind. Others made pig jokes.
And the New York golf fans heard what was, to them, a clarion call to heckle Clark. All the way around. All weekend. Especially Sunday.
It got so bad that at one point, when a group of unruly fans got ejected from Shinnecock Hills, Scottie Scheffler, playing with Clark, gave a thumbs up. Do better, New York. Golf isn’t a Knicks game.
New York golf fans should hang their heads in shame at the disgusting displays of partisanship.
He’s not exactly driving around on public streets on Ambien, is he?
Yes, Wyndham Clark yesterday was that jeered at, scoffed at, a hated “Man in the Arena" -- only this time, the Man in the Arena proved victorious. He came through the fury of the fire and the flames. He faced the full venom, spittle, and bile of the mob -- yes, mob, because that’s what you call so-called "golf fans" who hurl epithets and hate.
Driver off the tee even in the face of uncertainty with it all day. Flamboyant up-and-downs that would have made Seve Ballesteros stand and applaud. Having he courage to stand there and answer every question about Oakmont and Valhalla with honest confession and a plea for grace. That’s what everyone saw from Wyndham Clark in his grateful victory speeches and interviews.
That’s what life at the highest level is, at the end of the day. You can fence yourself in all you want, but you can’t fence the rest of the world out.
In his famous "Man in the Arena" speech, Roosevelt said, “There is no effort without error and shortcoming." I recognize that Clark recognizes error and shortcoming. It’s time the rest of us do, too. Or else be cold and bitter souls who never taste victory, nor defeat.
Wyndham Clark, I truly wish you God Speed. Now please don’t screw up again.
