US Open golf 2023: Wyndham Clark wins his first major championship – as it happened (2024)

That’s another US Open completed. The boy from Holywood, Belfast couldn’t quite triumph in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Instead, Wyndham Clark announced himself to the world. From myself and Dave thank you for reading and emailing – and goodnight!

Just before we wrap up, here’s a report from Ewan Murray about the field’s opinions of LA CC.

“Why did you win today?” Clark is asked after he lifts the trophy.

“I felt like my mom was watching over me today,” he says. “Miss you mom. And I worked so hard and so many times I visualised winning this championship and it felt like my time.

“US Opens are tough. It’s tough on a back nine. I kept saying I can do this, I can do this. I ground it on the way in.”

One of Clark’s secrets to success? He said this earlier in the week: “I will say that I came here (to LA CC) with my good buddy, PJ. He’s a member. He’s a good player and he really knows the golf course.

“That 18 holes was the equivalent of probably playing 36 holes because he was telling me how certain putts break, how this one is faster than that. If you’re here, you want to go there. He was spot on.

“When I left that practice round I felt like I didn’t even need a practice round. I felt like it was that in-depth.”

The final scores on the doors:

-10: W Clark
-9: R McIlroy
-7: S Scheffler
-6: C Smith
-5: T Fleetwood, M W Lee, R Fowler
-4: T Kim, H English

Rory McIlroy on his performance: “The putter - I’ll rue some chances. That wedge on 14 coming up short, too. Just didn’t quite get the job done. I’ll keep coming back. I’m right there but it’s such fine margins.”

“So good, so good, so good,” yelled a friend of Clark as he received back slaps and fist pumps galore. It’s a sentiment that is hard to argue with. He has been superb this week.

A sensational performance. A second win of the year. A first major championship. Tears and a look to the heavens.

Clark’s caddie removes the flag. Clark hits his putt. Oh it’s good. Very, very good. Inches from the hole.

Wow. The galleries have been allowed to surround the 18th green.

Clark peers back at them. It’s as raucous on 18 today as it’s been anywhere all week.

Here we go. Clark settles over his ball. 198 yards to the flag. “The palm tree,” says his caddie, meaning the line.

His ball finds the front of the green. He’s 60 feet from the flag. Triumph is within touching distance … but it’s not over yet.

“All he can do now is wait,” says Ewen Murray on TV, as McIlroy walks off the 18th green.

Behind, Clark has to walk up the 18th hole with a cameramen beside him. What thoughts must be racing through his head!

McIlroy’s putt at 18 is one of his best of the day but it doesn’t drop!

Back on the tee, Clark finds the fairway. He’s got three shots from there to become a major champion.

Clark is superb – yet again – with his short game. His pitch on the 17th settles by the hole and he secures his par. It’s all down to the 72nd hole now. But advantage Clark – he leads McIlroy by one.

What about the approaches?

Clark at 17 first: he misses the green (he’s done that every round this week) but has done so in a good spot. He’s 54 feet away with nothing between his ball and the flag. Relatively flat too. The biggest hazard? Nerves!

McIlroy at 18: he watches Scheffler knock one close, can he produce the same? He has to step away because of the din – the first din of the week more or less – then he finds the putting surface but he’s 41 feet away.

Clark on the 17th tee, finds the fairway, 182 to the flag. McIlroy on the 18th tee, finds the fairway, 185 yards to the flag.

There really is very little in this!

What happens if we need extra holes? The US Open is now decided by an aggregate two hole play-off if there is a tie after 72 holes.

McIlroy is frustrated after his birdie putt does no more than nestle by the hole. But he doesn’t know what has happened on the 16th green. Riley said earlier that the Northern Irishman had ignored a leaderboard – will he know the situation heading up the final hole?

-10: W Clark (16)
-9: R McIlroy (17)

Bogey for Clark! He slaps the face of his putter after his ball lips out at the 16th!

He is now only one clear of McIlroy.

TV’s Wayne Riley knew better than the cameras. McIlroy, he explains, planned to take an alternative route to the 17th green. He powered the ball over trees onto an adjacent fairway. His approach landed with a roar from the galleries but he still has 32-feet to the hole.

Clark executes a superb approach at the 16th. He’s left himself 7-feet for par.

Let’s have a reminder of just how remarkable it is that he’s withstood the major championship pressure. First, there is his major record which includes four missed cuts in six starts and a best of tied 75th. But it’s also true that 23 of the last 25 major championship winners had experience of contending a major in at least one of the three that preceded their win (finishing top eight or sitting top four with 18 holes to play). Clark has never felt that heat. It doesn’t seem to be bothering him, however.

It’s getting very twitchy. McIlroy’s drive at 16 has gone left and might be in trouble. It’s one of those where the TV camera lingers on trees and marshals who are walking towards them. Behind, Clark has to heave his ball out of the fairway bunker at 15 so needs to save par from 130 yards. The state of play:

-11: W Clark (15)
-9: R McIlroy (16)
-7: S Scheffler (16), R Fowler (15)
-6: C Smith (F)

McIlroy’s long distance birdie putt at 16 slips a nasty 7-feet past the hole.

But drama behind him on the tee – Clark has driven into the fairway bunker and might struggle to reach the green.

McIlroy putts …and it drops! That was vital.

McIlroy has an ugly lie after that errant tee shot at the 16th. He has, however, clattered it onto the putting surface. A long away from the hole, though.

Clark’s chip has slipped to around 10-feet at 15. Can he stay three shots clear? No! A bogey and the first crack in his previously iron-clad short game. The gap is two.

Thanks Dave. Things have certainly changed in the last 20 minutes. I’m thinking of this week’s most regular emailer, Michael Meagher, who is somewhere out there sighing: “Oh Rory.”

Also, before I crack on with the finale, I just want to say that, in a week that’s been full of chatter about the Golden Age of Hollywood, well played Min Woo Lee for celebrating it best with his Douglas Fairbanks/Errol Flynn style moustache. And his top 10 finish, of course.

McIlroy drives into rough at 16. Not good. Clark’s tee shot at 15 is waywad though and misses the green. Do we have further twists? Matt will take you down the closing stretch.

Here goes McIlroy with his birdie putt at 15. It shaves the hole. Of course it does. That’s a par.

Clark eyes up his eagle try back at 14. Holing it would be fantastic; taking two putts for birdie is a very valuable consolation prize. Clark is rightfully cautious and makes sure of the birdie-4. He pulls three clear. Fowler also makes birdie but that’s more to firm up his bid for bronze rather than gold.

-12: W Clark (14)
-9: R McIlroy (15)
-7: R Fowler (14)
-6: C Smith (F), Scheffler (15)

Clark must have seen all the McIlroy drama and he’s had to spend plenty of time stewing in the fairway. Under the circ*mstances he could be forgiven for messing this approach up. Instead, he hits a worldie from 280 yards onto the green and will have 20 feet for eagle. Very soon, Clark could be three clear with four to play.

McIlroy needs to pull something out of the bag. Perhaps he’s started that process with a tee shot to 19 feet at the par-3 15th. But, for goodness sake, he has to hole a putt not sooner or later but now.

McIlroy drops his ball, without penalty, in rough outside of the bunker and hacks out to nine feet. A chance to save par but he hasn’t holed a putt of that length all day. He looks anxious as he stalks the putt. This is huge and… he misses right. Ouch. A first bogey for McIlroy and he falls two back. Scheffler also drops a shot and he’s six off the pace. A costly hole.

Out on the course, Sky’s Wayne Riley explains that it’s broken ground so McIlroy can pluck out his embedded ball and get a free drop. It was deemed to be plugged. That’s a huge, huge break. The turning point? We shall see.

McIlroy slumps over his knees as his approach to 14 holds up in the wind and plonks into the front bunker. And drama, it’s plugged in the face. This will require a ruling. Back on the tee, Clark booms away a solid drive.

The clubhouse leader, replacing Tommy Fleetwood, is Open champion Cam Smith. The Aussie signs for a 67 to finish at 6-under.

Clark does indeed take two putts for par at 13, the second a pressure-free tap-in. He retains his one-shot lead. McIlroy lays up on the 612-yard par-5 14th. Barring a big collapse from either, the 123rd US Open is surely now a two-horse race. McIlroy has only holed 27 feet of putts over his first 13 holes by the way.

-11: W Clark (13)
-10: R McIlroy (13)
-6: C Smith (17), Fowler (13)