LOS ANGELES — Wyndham Clark was the last golfer to meet with the media after Saturday’s third round at the 2023 U.S. Open. Having just finished in near darkness, he was still reveling in the clutch birdie putt he drained on 18 just a few minutes prior because he knew what it meant.
“I wanted to be in the final group,” he said about Sunday’s final round. Clark, who won for the first time on the PGA Tour a little more than a month ago at Wells Fargo Championship, was a relative unknown on the Los Angeles Country Club leaderboard that was chock-full of stars like Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler.
In the end, though, it was Clark hoisting the U.S. Open and claiming his first major championship.
Clark, 29, showed some major mettle over the last 18 holes, breaking out of a 54-hole tie with Rickie Fowler to take a two shot lead after just six holes.
Clark opened with a birdie, and later stuffed approach shots to Nos. 4 and 6 and made two more birdies to get to 12 under.
U.S. OPEN: Leaderboard | Photos
Meanwhile, the crowd favorite Fowler went backwards, bogeying Nos. 2, 5 and 7 to fall five shots back of Clark through seven holes.
And then there was Rory McIlroy. Looking to snap a nearly nine-year winless streak in the majors, McIlroy birdied the first to get to 10 under and grab a share of the lead for the first time this week. He then parred the next 12 holes.
Clark found his first bit of trouble on the eighth hole when his approach on the par-5 hole came up short of the green and found some thick grass near the green. Taking a huge cut for his third, he appeared to miss the ball completely. He needed a fourth to get out, sending his ball clear across the green. From there, he chipped back on and made his putt for bogey to limit the damage.
He was in the thick stuff next to the green again on 9 but chipped on and made the par putt to stay the course, holding a one-shot lead over McIlroy at the turn.
It was a two-man race from there with Clark at 11 under and McIlroy at 10.
On the par-5 14th, Clark, up two shots, hit his second shot to the green and left him with a 20-footer for eagle.
Three. Shot. Lead. @Wyndham_Clark widens his lead after a stellar second shot into No. 14 leads to birdie #USOpen pic.twitter.com/eoEPd6yzsh
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 19, 2023
He would then two-putt for birdie to get to 12 under and take a three-shot lead with four holes to go.
Clark gave one back on 15 and another on 16 but clung to a one-shot lead to the finish line, winning his first major championship.