Wyndham Clark secured his first major title after winning the 123rd US Open at the Los Angeles Country Club on Sunday.
Clark, whose previous best finish in six previous major starts was a tie for 75th, shrugged off two late bogeys and closed with two confident pars for an even-par score of 70 to secure victory at Los Angeles Country Club with a 10-under-par total of 270.
This was sufficient for a one-shot victory over McIlroy, who also shot a final-round 70. The world’s number one golfer, Scottie Scheffler, finished in third place with a final round score of par.
Clark dedicated his Father’s Day victory to his mother, who passed away in 2013 from breast cancer.
“I just felt like my mum was watching over me today. She can’t be here. I miss you mum,” said Clark, who had broken through for his first US PGA Tour victory at Quail Hollow just last month. “I just feel like it was my time.”
Clark, ranked 32nd in the world, began the day tied for the lead with Rickie Fowler. After his fourth birdie of the day at the par-five 14th, where he reached the green in two and two-putted for birdie from 20 feet, he had a three-shot lead.
McIlroy, who was playing ahead of the group, had bogeyed the same hole.
However, Clark’s lead shrunk to one following bogeys on holes 15 and 16, and McIlroy kept the pressure on with an improbable par on hole 17, where his errant tee shot landed on the fairway of the adjacent second hole.
Clark missed the green on the par-four seventeenth, but his third shot was within two feet of the hole, allowing him to salvage a par.
His approach at the 18th hole left him 60 feet from the hole, and he made a confident run with his first putt before sealing the victory with a three-foot par putt.
“I hit some great shots coming down at the end, and although I made a couple bogeys and it seemed like maybe the rails were coming off, I was inside pretty calm,” Clark said. “I’m really pleased with myself with how I performed.”
After opening with a birdie, McIlroy parred the next 12 holes, finding green after green but failing to sink any birdie putts.
He bogeyed hole 14, where his third shot was embedded in the muddy bank of a bunker and he received a free drop, only to miss a par-saving putt from nine feet away.
“I hung in there and fought right to the end and didn’t quite get the job done,” said McIlroy, who won the last of his four majors in 2014. “But I’ll keep coming back until I get another one.”
