Wyndham Clark celebrates a birdie on the 16th hole during the final round of the U.S. Open.
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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Wyndham Clark joined the two-timers club on Sunday night. Among active players, there are now three with two U.S. Open wins: Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and the new guy, crowned here at Shinnecock Hills on a gorgeous night when the light was blah-blah-blah. Nobody cares.
Yes, all three are very similar golfers, immensely strong players through the chest, able to make huge upper-body turns against tree-trunk-stable lower bodies. All three are able to kill par-5s and long par-4s with fade drives followed by fade irons to middle and right pins. Aaron Rai these guys are not. Not in any way.
Few would describe these three players as lovable. (Except, of course, by those who love them — they would.) And none of them is afraid to play the villain role. Not at all. Clark won his first Open over Rickie Fowler. (How dare you!) Koepka won his second U.S. Open over Tommy Fleetwood. (How could you?) DeChambeau won his second over Rory McIlroy. (Why, the nerve!) All three are bro golfers in an age of bro everything in golf: bro fans, bro caddies, bro creators, bro players. Please don’t read that as playahs. So not cool.
Li’l Corey Pavin won his lone U.S. Open here in 1995, hitting a 4-wood into 18 on Sunday. It was not possible for him to win another one. He didn’t know it. Nobody could. But his win marked the end of an era.
Tiger Woods turned pro in 1996, Bill Coore and Tom Doak and Gil Hanse became famous for a less-is-more approach to their design-and-reno work right about then, the USGA fell in love with wide open spaces — and nothing has been the same.
The stage was set for Woods, who won his Opens at Pebble Beach in 2000, at Bethpage Black in 2002 and at Torrey Pines in 2008. In the middle of the Woods era, Retief Goosen — a monstah, in his own unassuming way — won his two U.S. Opens, at Southern Hills in 2001 and at Shinnecock Hills in 2004. He cleared the stage for Koepka, who won at Erin Hills in 2017 and Shinnecock Hills one year later. For DeChambeau, who won at Winged Foot in 2020 and Pinehurst in 2024. And for Clark, who won at the Los Angeles Country Club in 2023 and here on Sunday night, amid the familiar and ancient sound of a diesel commuter train whistling in the—
Dude — nobody cares!
So far, there have been more courses cited in this report than there are trees on any of the courses mentioned here.
Part of what made the 126th U.S. Open, and the sixth at Shinnecock Hills, sort of anti-climactic is that Clark’s scores got progressively worse: 64 and 69 (catching the better sides of the weather on Thursday morning and Friday afternoon), followed by an even-par 70 on Saturday and a Sunday 73. That’s kind of weird, right? You’re wondering: Has that ever even happened before?
Yep.
In 2023, when Wyndham Clark won the U.S. Open with scores of 64, 67, 69 and 70.
Maybe you were rooting for Rickie Fowler that weekend. Or Rory McIlroy. Well, Wyndham Clark did not care. (And why should he?)
Bryson and Brooks went to LIV. Maybe you were appalled, these two Herculean golfers turning their backs on the institutions (the USGA, the PGA Tour) that made their lives possible, splitting the scene in the name of… Saudi oil money! These bash brothers did not care.
Let’s not even get into Wyndham Clark’s initial response to the Oakmont thing because nobody (understandably) wants to get into that whole thing again, but it is fair to say that it took Clark a while to realize it was kind of a thing, and it did have legs.
On Sunday afternoon at Shinnecock Hills, here on the South Fork of the Eastern End of Long Island, thousands of well-mannered and appropriate fans, to say nothing of the men at work between the rope lines, were subjected to the most boorish fan behavior on display since … last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in Bethpage, another stop on the Long Island Rail Road. That event was almost ruined by a small number of overserved fanboys and Sunday’s U.S. Open finale could have suffered a similar fate.
Clark became Public Enemy No. 1, among a modest number of way-too-loud and singularly obnoxious fans at this famously genteel club. They were all lathered up for one reason above all others. Clark was playing in the day’s last twosome with Scottie Scheffler on a day when Scheffler, in victory, could have become the seventh player to win the career Grand Slam. It was also Father’s Day, and Scheffler is the father of two, and his 30th birthday. So a lot going on.
Clark had to play through a chorus of repulsive so-not-golf commentary that included “It’s yours to lose” (Clark had a six-shot lead through three rounds) and “Get in the pond!” at a course that has no water at all except in chic Dasani cans. You could make the case that all of this comes out of the decision to play U.S. Opens with no trees, the 460cc driver and the aspirational themes underlying “Entourage” and “Billions” and “Neighbors and Friends,” all of which loved to use ye olde game.
When Clark played the 18th hole with Sunday night closing in, the leader in the house was Scheffler’s close friend Sam Burns. Burns was at three under and Clark at four. When Sam Burns, the 54-hole leader at last year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont, blew up in the last round (78), Scheffler was in pain for him. They’ve logged hundreds of rounds together over the past 15 years. Scheffler of course knew that Clark was one bogey away from a playoff with his close friend. And Scheffler revealed… absolutely nothing about his rooting interests. He’s a golfer. He knows how golfers are supposed to behave. He congratulated Clark and Clark’s caddie, David Pelekoudas. He made the media rounds. He told reporters this:
“Being in the arena is not for everybody, and I think it shows a lot about Wyndham, how he handled not only this golf course but the crowd today as well. He is a deserving champion.”
That is a perfect statement. That is the underlying spirit of golf. But statements don’t win U.S. Opens. Wyndham Clark won this 126th U.S. Open with a 345-yard tee shot on the par-4 10th, the most beautifully flighted 60-yard wedge a golfer can play into a wildly sloped green, and a nothing-but-net slicing 4-footer. His ship had been listing. He righted it. That’s not bro golf or modern golf or get-lucky golf. It’s getting-it-done golf. He’s done it twice now. He earned his place in the club.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com
Michael Bamberger writes for GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. Before that, he spent nearly 23 years as senior writer for Sports Illustrated. After college, he worked as a newspaper reporter, first for the (Martha’s) Vineyard Gazette, later for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He has written a variety of books about golf and other subjects, the most recent of which is The Second Life of Tiger Woods. His magazine work has been featured in multiple editions of The Best American Sports Writing. He holds a U.S. patent on The E-Club, a utility golf club. In 2016, he was given the Donald Ross Award by the American Society of Golf Course Architects, the organization’s highest honor.
