Wyndham Clark is one of the only players in the history of the game to lose a full stroke to the field during the final round of a major and still emerge victorious.
Clark made hard work of Sunday at Shinnecock Hills. He had gone into the last day with a six-shot lead over the chasing pack.
He was helped by playing partner Scottie Scheffler failing to get anything going all day. But Scheffler’s good friend Sam Burns was there to push Clark all the way.
Wyndham Clark makes US Open history with his win at Shinnecock Hills
Clark certainly did not help himself at times. The 32-year-old made five bogeys during the final round, while he did not make his first birdie of the day until the 10th hole.
Thankfully for Clark, he was able to make the lengthy two-putt he needed on the 72nd hole to ensure that he held on by just one shot.
It is Clark’s second major title following the 2023 US Open at LACC. But he also made some history with his performance in Southampton.
As noted by Rick Gehman on X, Clark became only the fourth player to lose at least one stroke to the field in the last round and win a major.
He lost 1.61 shots on Sunday.
The other three players to lose strokes to the field on Sunday before winning a major
In fairness to Clark, he was still some way off matching the struggles of Vijay Singh at the 2004 PGA Championship, when the Fijian lost 2.23 strokes to the field.
Tom Lehman lost 1.43 shots in the final round of The Open Championship 30 years ago, while Raymond Floyd was the first player to achieve the unfortunate feat, at the 1969 PGA Championship.
Clark would have dreamt of taking all the potential drama out of the occasion when he prepared to head to the first tee on Sunday.
But in many ways, that victory was all the more impressive considering that it could have so easily been a very different result at Shinnecock.
