06/21/26 09:38:00
Printable Page
06/21 21:37 CDT Wyndham Clark quiets a US Open crowd that rooted for him to lose
Wyndham Clark quiets a US Open crowd that rooted for him to lose
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press
Wyndham Clark heard it all day from the Shinnecock Hills crowd. Fans shouted
for his golf ball to go in the bunker and the rough. One was ejected after
yelling: "Don't choke, Wyndham!"
He quieted them with a 52-foot putt to tap-in range for his second U.S. Open
title in four years, avoiding the worst collapse in tournament history after
his six-stroke lead dwindled to one.
Oh, how this anybody-but-Wyndham crowd would've relished that.
New York loves a winner, but the one these fans really wanted to see on Sunday
was Scottie Scheffler, who was chasing the career Grand Slam, or Sam Burns, who
lost by a stroke. Not Clark.
Call it backlash for him damaging a locker in a fit of rage at Oakmont Country
Club while missing the cut last year in the U.S. Open. Or for saying on TV that
being surrounded by kids playing in the Masters Par 3 Contest was "great birth
control." Or even for winning his first U.S. Open title in 2023 over fan
favorites Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler.
Or maybe the folks spending their Father's Day at Shinnecock just wanted to see
a little drama after Clark built leads of two, four and six strokes after each
of the first three days.
"Man, they definitely didn't want me to win," Clark said.
It's rare for a golfer in the lead at a major championship --- or any golfer
for that matter --- to be the subject of such derision. It happened to McIlroy
at the Ryder Cup last September at Bethpage Black, also on Long Island, but
that was a team competition. McIlroy was the star of the winning European side
and U.S. fans went overboard in letting him have it.
Clark, 32, said he tried to see himself in an "underdog" role on Sunday, as he
did in 2023.
"Anytime someone said something negative to me, I replaced it with something
positive," Clark said. "Some of it's self-deserved. I kind of brought it on
myself, but I also get it, too. Scottie was going for the career Grand Slam,
and it hasn't happened very often."
Even so, the animosity appeared to rattle Clark early in his round. He bogeyed
the second, sixth and seventh holes as fans threw their support behind
Scheffler. They cheered Clark's mistakes while showering Scheffler with
affection --- even serenading the four-time major champion, who turned 30 on
Sunday, with "Happy Birthday."
It was "Get in the bunker!" for Clark and "We love you Scottie!" for Scheffler,
who tied for fourth at even par.
"You like seeing the fans cheer for you. I think sometimes it can get a little
too much when, you know, balls are kind of going off greens and you start
hearing cheers," Scheffler said. "That felt a bit much to me."
Anti-Clark fans cheered when he flared a shot under a pair of trash containers
on the fourth hole and again when his shot on the seventh hole landed in a
bunker.
"Wyndham gonna loose 'em," a man said as Clark walked to his ball on 10.
"Get in the fescue!" a fan yelled after he teed off on 13. When his second shot
landed on a precarious part of the green, the crowd chanted "Go! Go! Go!" and
gleefully roared as the golf ball rolled off the back.
Clark won over the crowd, at least for a moment, on the 16th hole --- punching
out from the tall grass and pumped his fist after nailing a 24-foot birdie putt
to go to 5-under par. For the moment, he held a two-stroke lead and the crowd's
hopes of a different winner were fading.
But the taunts returned on the next hole as Clark backed off of his 8-foot par
putt and then missed it. As Clark walked to the 18th tee, scratching his head
with his hat in hand, a fan in the grandstand sang "Under Pressure."
"Yeah, it was tough, but I'm proud of myself that I battled through," Clark
said. "I mean, things really could have gotten away from me. I stood tough.
Yeah, I would have liked to have won by more, but as long as you win, it
doesn't matter."
___
Associated Press writers Doug Ferguson and Eddie Pells contributed to this
report.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
|
