Wyndham Clark held a lead that looked impossible to protect, even after the crowd turned against him and Sam Burns nearly caught up at the end. Clark finished with a 3-over 73 for a one-shot victory, his second U.S. Open title in four years.
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Wyndham Clark could feel the collapse coming before it arrived. He was already on the edge of what would have been the biggest U.S. Open blown lead in the event’s history, still holding onto the wire-to-wire posture that had seemed so solid just days earlier.
Sunday brought the opposite kind of comfort. The margin shrank fast. After five holes. Clark’s lead was down to a single shot. and the stress stayed with him the rest of the way. By the time he got through the most punishing stretch—starting with a par-5 16th where he gouged a drive and still barely got out of a bunker—there was no room left for mistakes.
It was there, in that cramped, high-stakes moment, that Clark found the punchline of the week. His 8-iron “barely stayed on the back of the green. ” and from there he rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt for a two-shot lead with two holes to play. The applause was muted. The story was louder than the cheers.
Clark finished with a 3-over 73 for a one-shot win over Sam Burns. He became the first wire-to-wire winner of the U.S. Open since Martin Kaymer at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014, and he is now a two-time major champion, following his 2023 U.S. Open win at Los Angeles Country Club.
“This sure didn’t feel like that,” was how it played out, even if the result did not change. His lead fell after just five holes, and the endgame only intensified the sense that something could go wrong. It didn’t help that the gallery spent much of the day pulling for Scottie Scheffler and his bid for the career Grand Slam.
Scheffler, who had plenty of swing-and-miss moments of his own, never got closer than three shots all day. He finished three shots back at 71 after a 30-foot birdie putt on the 14th that was followed by a three-putt for bogey.
For Clark, the crowd turned into a character—rooting, then rooting harder elsewhere. At one point on the fourth tee. a fan was ejected after shouting. “Don’t choke. Wyndham.” Later. the par-3 seventh—usually reserved for the closest-to-the-pin drama—became a wave of instant noise for Clark’s opponent when Clark’s tee shot rolled into a bunker. He missed for bogey, trimming his lead back to one shot.
“I get it — they were rooting for Scottie,” Clark said. “Grand Slams only happen a few times. He’s going to get it. He’s the best player in the world. But today it’s my day.”
Even the version of Clark the crowd wanted was shaped by his past behavior. Clark had started the championship with a story of redemption that had followed him to Shinnecock Hills. A year ago. he was playing poorly and angry. throwing a driver at the PGA Championship that made a marshal flinch and then bashing in his locker at Oakmont Country Club after missing the cut in the U.S. Open last year. Oakmont banned him until he made good.
At this U.S. Open, the “making good” looked real in the scorecard. Clark finished at 4-under 276, his highest final-round score for a champion since Graeme McDowell closed with a 74 to win at Pebble Beach. The numbers told one story. The nervousness told another.
Burns came close enough to make the final two holes feel like a referendum on who deserved the trophy. He shot 67, returning for his second chance in as many years to win the U.S. Open. He missed two birdie chances on the final two holes. but the moment that hurt just as much came on the 15th. when he made a three-putt bogey while trying to catch Clark.
On the 10th, Clark restored the breathing room with a superb wedge that spun back to 4 feet for birdie, pushing the lead back to two shots. Then the lead tightened again. Clark went long on the 13th with a pitching wedge and couldn’t save par.
Burns had one last push. From 10 feet on the 17th, he made a weak attempt at birdie to tie the lead. On the 18th, his 17-foot birdie chance rolled along the right edge of the cup at perfect speed and did not drop. Burns let go of his putter and dropped to his knees.
“I honestly thought I made it,” Burns said. “Just the way it goes sometimes.”
Scheffler had a birthday-side storyline of his own, and Tom Kim, also marking a birthday Sunday, finished third. Kim was on the fringes of contention until he fell back with a bogey on the 17th and shot 70.
Clark’s victory also feels strange when you place it on a longer timeline. Last year, Burns dealt with rain-soaked Oakmont and shots he missed badly as water disrupted the clubface to ball contact. This time. the duel at Shinnecock Hills came down to the last stretch—especially the final two holes—and whether Clark’s lead could survive the pressure the crowd applied.
“What almost wasn’t” becomes the point: Burns never caught him. Clark played even par over the last 10 holes. He rode the turning moments—the bunker escape on 16. the birdie putt that gave him the margin. the composure when the cheers went elsewhere—and he closed the tournament with the trophy intact.
At the closing ceremony, Clark lifted the silver hardware and addressed the crowd directly.
“New York didn’t really like me — I love you guys,” Clark said. “But I get it. Some of it’s self-deserved. I did some unfortunate things last year that I really regret, and I’ve been sorry multiple times and I’m still sorry, so hopefully I can win you guys over eventually.”
For Clark, it was a day that oscillated between relief and discomfort. The biggest lead he carried did not last. The crowd wanted something else. And still, through the noise and the tension, the win stayed in his hands.
Clark’s story has shifted dramatically in a short stretch: he was No. 75 in the world and winless in two years when he shot 60 in the final round to win The CJ Cup Byron Nelson. He is now No. 8 in the world ranking, and the smile he wore holding the U.S. Open trophy suggested he feels, at least for the moment, on top of the world.
Wyndham Clark U.S. Open Sam Burns Scottie Scheffler Shinnecock Hills golf
So the crowd booed him and he still won… sounds rigged lol
I didn’t realize it was wire-to-wire like that. 3-over 73 for a one-shot win?? That seems kinda lowkey amazing.
Wait, Sam Burns almost caught him at the end but still couldn’t? I thought the whole thing was Clark just falling apart the last few holes, like the boos caused it. also Southampton, New York?? isn’t that like… not the US Open location?
Boos to win is just so sports-y it’s annoying. Like people act shocked he survived when he was literally leading the whole time. The article says he gouged a drive and got out of a bunker and I’m like… that sounds exactly like luck. Still congrats though, I guess.