Wyndham Clark is your 2023 US Open champion. Clark achieved a remarkable victory at the 123rd U.S. Open held at the Los Angeles Country Club, as he held off a star studded field down the stretch.
The 29 year old, who was ranked 293rd in the world a year ago and had never finished better than 75th in a major championship, earned a 1 stroke victory by fending off Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Rickie Fowler in the final round. Clark carded an even-par 70 on Sunday, totaling 10-under 270, one stroke ahead of McIlroy, who sought to end his nearly nine-year major championship drought.
During the final stretch, Clark led by as many as three strokes over McIlroy with four holes remaining. However, he encountered setbacks with back-to-back bogeys, narrowing his lead to one. Nonetheless, McIlroy failed to capitalize, managing only pars in his final five holes.
On the 18th hole, Clark strategically manoeuvred his shots, eventually two-putting for victory. Overwhelmed with emotion, he buried his head in his hands and shared a celebratory embrace with his caddie, John Ellis, while the crowd of hundreds of fans cheered him on.
The Denver native earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Wells Fargo Championship five weeks earlier. With the win, he became only the fourth player in the past century to win the U.S. Open in the first tournament they made the cut, an impressive feat most recently achieved by Lucas Glover in 2009.
Clark commenced the final round as the co-leader with Fowler at 10 under par. He began strongly with a birdie on the first hole, but immediately followed that up with a bogey on the second. With two additional birdies on the 4th and 6th holes, Clark skillfully navigated the front nine, avoiding potential disasters on the eighth and ninth holes. Holes which had presented challenges all weekend long.
Some self-inflicted wounds staggered Fowler and Scheffler on Sunday, the battle for 1st place ultimately boiled down to a two-man duel between Clark and McIlroy. Both players posted pars on the first four holes of the back nine until a two-stroke swing occurred on the par-5 14th. McIlroy encountered trouble when his third shot became embedded in a bunker, leading to a bogey. Meanwhile, Clark narrowly missed an eagle putt but secured a birdie, extending his lead to three strokes with only four holes left.
With the win Clark earned himself a $3.6M payday from the record setting $20M US Open purse. That figure represents more he made on tour in the last 3 years combined.
The PGA Tour continues next weekend at TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship.
Photo: Titleist. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.