LOS ANGELES – The US Open ended as always on Father’s Day. The newest champion of golf would be the first to tell people he’s always been a mama’s boy.
Wyndham Clark’s victory on Sunday will be remembered for how a 29-year-old newcomer fended off some of the game’s biggest names in the big season and made a poignant exclamation point at the US Open, which had been somewhat unsuccessful up to that point hard to love
Clark’s mother, Lise, died of breast cancer in 2013 – a family tragedy that staggered him. The win brought an opportunity to share memories and reflect on the long journey between then and now.
“I didn’t show any emotion off the golf course, but when I was on the golf course I couldn’t have been more angry,” Clark said of his state of mind upon first learning of his mother’s diagnosis. “I’ve broken clubs before I’ve even hit such a bad shot. I left golf courses.”
Coming back saw him drop out of college at Oklahoma State and make a fresh start in Oregon. It was a relatively quick rise for an aspiring golf pro, but one that was thrown off course by typical dips and tight decisions that resulted in more than a crisis of confidence.
“I’d go home a lot and I’d be screaming and banging on things in my car and just get so angry I’d be like, ‘Why can’t I do what my co-workers are doing?'” Clark said.
He kept in mind what his mother used to tell him about his golf game: Play big.
“She called me ‘Winner’ when I was little, so she just said, ‘I love you, Winner,'” Clark said.
be a winner on Sunday meant stopping the first and third-ranked players in the world: Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. All three leaders even shot par 70s on the last loop. Clark’s 70 was good enough to beat McIlroy by one and Scheffler by three.
“I guess you’re just hoping that the other person makes a mistake or gives you a glimmer of hope,” McIlroy said. “Wyndham has been pretty rock solid all day.”
Clark stayed cool when trouble threatened, as is always the case with golf’s so-called most challenging test, even when it isn’t. He parried the bogey after shooting his third shot from the heavy rough on the par-five eighth green. From a knee-high berth in the rough, he made a par up and down save in 9th place.
Hitting big shots under pressure, he hit a 228-yard fairway metal at 20 feet to set up a birdie for a three-shot lead over McIlroy in the par-5 14th. Then, with his lead down to one, he hit the green from 200 yards at #18 and made two putts from 60 feet to seal the deal.
“A rising star,” was what his caddie and former Oregon assistant coach, John Ellis, called him. “If he wasn’t one before, he is now. For the first time he’s actually competed in a Major to have a chance of winning and he’s showing he can handle the heat.”
Clark mentored the Los Angeles Country Club, a first-time host he met at an early age Thank you to a friend who is a member and who invited Clark over for a spin about a week before the show came to town.
Not everyone loved this place.
The US Open’s first return to Los Angeles in 75 years went round criticized for its small galleriesits wide but crooked fairways, They are blind discounts and a general feeling that it didn’t live up to the high standards of the US Open.
There were two record laps of 62 on opening day (Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele) and what felt like a 63 lap on Sunday (Tommy Fleetwood).
There were two record-breaking nine-hole finishes of 29 (Tom Kim on Saturday, Austin Eckroat on Sunday).
Fowler, who shared the lead with Clark in the third round, needed just 62 holes to set a US Open record with 22 birdies but did nothing on the last 10 holes to get back in the hunt.
The four-day point average was 71.76, breaking the tournament record set in 1895.
Even Clark was less than satisfied after Saturday’s third round, which ended almost in the dark – a call for appointments that led to the weekend’s action being televised in prime time on East Coast television.
The Denver native said play in the dark reminded him of training at twilight as a kid at Cherry Hills Country Club – the place where Arnold Palmer brought the US Open to American consciousness with his rousing comeback in 1960.
Cherry Hills and Denver have another champion to celebrate. Clark’s victory came six days later The Nuggets secured the NBA title.
But the action took place in LA on Sunday. As the sun went down on the third major of the year, Clark had nothing to complain about. He was near the 18th green, holding the trophy and taking pictures – with his caddy Ellis as well as his sister, his girlfriend and dozens of other friends and family members who were on the ride.
All in all a perfect way to celebrate Father’s Day.
Well, almost perfect.
“All I really wish for is that my mom could be here and I could just give her a hug and we celebrate together,” Clark said. “But I know she’s proud of me.”
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