Wyndham Clark displayed nerves of steel to win the 2023 US Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
The 29-year-old American retained his composure to par the final hole, edging Rory McIlroy by a shot to claim his first major.
Teeing off in a share of the lead on the final day, Clark steadied his nerves with a birdie on the first.
But like any US Open win it didn’t come easily. Clark made several huge up-and-downs to save par or salvage bogey, the most notable coming on the ninth hole when he chopped out from deep grass in front of the green to make an unlikely par.
Arguably his biggest moment came on the 17th. Facing a tricky chip shot, Clark nipped it stone dead to tap in for par and maintain a one-stroke advantage heading to the final tee.
Clark, whose previous best finish in a major was a tie for 75th at the 2021 PGA Championship, claimed the Wells Fargo Championship in May.
Clark turned pro in 2017. The US Open is only the second win of his career.
FINAL SCORES
- 1 Wyndham Clark -10
- 2 Rory McIlroy -9
- 3 Scottie Scheffler -7
- 4 Cameron Smith -6
- T5 Tommy Fleetwood -5
- T5 Min Woo Lee -5
- T5 Rickie Fowler -5
- T8 Tom Kim -4
- T8 Harris English -4
- T10 Austin Eckroat -3
- T10 Jon Rahm -3
- T10 Xander Schauffele -3
- T10 Dustin Johnson -3
AUSTRALIANS
- 4 Cameron Smith -6
- T5 Min Woo Lee -5
- MC Lucas Herbert +5
- MC Adam Scott +5
- MC Karl Vilips (a) +9
- MC Cameron Davis +11
Rahm struck first. Brooksie was next. Who’s turn will it be at the US Open?
The third major of the year has arrived and after the two hottest players on the planet levelled the score at one apiece, is anyone else going to get a look in?
The US Open will be played at Los Angeles Country Club, starting Thursday June 15 and finishing Sunday June 18.
RAHM AND KOEPKA
Duking it out for a major each so far in 2023, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka appear to have one hand on the trophy already.
The two alpha dogs of the golfing world have been the most impressive players by far this year and you get the sense that at least one of them, possibly both, are going to be in the hunt coming down the stretch on Sunday.
While Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Cam Smith have skin in the game as to who the best player in the world is, anyone who wants to get in a gunslinging shootout with the Spanish superstar and badass Brooks will know they’ve been in a fight.
Rahm and Brooksie appear to have the unwavering belief and unique skillset that separates them from the rest of the field when it gets to the pointy end of major championships.
Another major win by either one of them will be the least surprising outcome at LA Country Club.
THE DEFENDING CHAMPION
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick got the job done last year at Brookline in Boston with laser-like approaches and a self-confessed hit-and-hope on the final hole that turned out to be wildly successful.
Heading into this year’s US Open, the signs are there that Fitzpatrick is poised to defend his title with tenacity.
He beat Jordan Spieth in a playoff at Hilton Head in April, his first victory since Brookline, but missed the cut at the PGA Championship before finishing ninth at the Memorial last start.
His cross-handed chipping technique may raise eyebrows but it stands up well under pressure.
Fitzpatrick was inside the top 10 in strokes gained around the green last year and if he can make the kind of par-saving up-and-downs that are crucial in a US Open, he may well become the first player to defend a US Open crown since Brooks Koepka in 2018-19.
THE AUSSIES
It’ll be seven Australians meeting the starter at LA Country Club and while it’s a fraction down on quantity this year, there is plenty of quality.
Leading the charge once again is Cam Smith, the 2022 Open Champion who is creeping his way back to his sharpest form.
Cam got on the wrong side of the draw at Oak Hill at the PGA Championship but managed to grind out a top 10 after shooting the equal lowest score of the day on Sunday.
His LIV form has also been trending, losing in a three-man playoff to Dustin Johnson in Tulsa and notching a top 10 in Washington.
Cam is probably the best putter in the world and if he can continue to roll it like he has been, the mulleted maestro could be walking off with a second major in LA.
Lucas Herbert, Cam Davis, Min Woo Lee, Adam Scott and Jason Day also join Smith in LA.
But by far the most intriguing Aussie entrant is Karl Vilips, an amateur star who grew up in Perth before heading to the US in high school to pursue his golfing career.
Currently a star on the Stanford University golf roster — the team that Tiger Woods played for briefly before turning pro — it will be Vilips’ first start in a major.
THE COURSE
US Opens played on the west coast are something special, and not just because the time difference makes it much easier for Australian golf fans to tune in to the tournament.
While a Pebble Beach US Open is a west coast classic, the hosting duties fall to Los Angeles Country Club this year — a course that has never hosted a US Open.
It’s the first time in 75 years the national open will be held in LA (Riviera CC was the last in 1948) and LA Country Club will look much like it did back then thanks to a meticulous restoration by Gil Hanse.
Poring through old photos of the course that borders Beverley Hills and Tinseltown, Hanse and his team gradually restored the course to the original vision of architect George Thomas.
Thomas also designed Riviera, one of the most loved regular venues on tour and the home of the Genesis Invitational, and LA Country Club will offer a similarly idiosyncratic test.
While the fairways are probably going to be grown in for the US Open, LA Country Club is set to be the scene-stealing supporting character at this year’s tournament.
VIKTOR HOVLAND
The best golfer to never win a major is a title no golfer wants on their CV.
But Viktor Hovland couldn’t avoid the unwanted label after his stellar play over the past 12 months.
The Norwegian was in the final pairing alongside Rory McIlroy at St Andrews last year but his pedestrian play on Sunday meant he was never a threat.
He won the mickey mouse Hero World Challenge in late 2022 then started this year with a flourish, finishing third at the Player’s Championship before notching a tie for seventh at the Masters.
Then last month at the US PGA Championship at Oak Hill, Hovland showed considerable grit when remaining in the slipstream of the Brooks Koepka juggernaut until his ball plugged in the lip of a bunker with a couple of holes to play.
The engaging youngster is one of the most lovable pros in the game and his Memorial victory should give him untold confidence after a string of frustrating near misses.
Hovland’s game looks built for major success and if he does win in LA, a golf boom in Norway is the only logical outcome.
THE LONGEST DAY IN GOLF
Roughly 45 per cent of the 156 players in the US Open field earn their way in via ‘Golf’s longest day’ — the US Open qualifying series.
It consists of 36-hole, single day qualifying events held at 10 sites across the US and Canada and, in the true sense of an open event, qualifying is open to one and all.
Whether you’re a tour pro or a club champion at your local course, you can play your way into the US Open field if you can shoot low when it counts.
Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion and Fireballs captain, was one of the players to earn a start in LA the hard way, making a birdie on his 36th hole to earn one of the eight spots on offer at the Texas qualifier.
Other big names to play their way in through qualifying include Sebastian Munoz, Kevin Streelman, Stewart Cink, Patrick Rodgers, Taylor Pendrith and Carlos Ortiz, who won the final spot in Florida after a six-hole playoff.
GREEN WITH ENVY
Will LA Country Club provide a beastly US Open test? Probably, just not in the typical narrow fairways/thick rough type of set up.
LA Country Club’s fairways are expected to be a little wider off the tee than typical US Opens, to reflect the original George Thomas design that puts an emphasis on correct angles for approach shots into the greens.
Firm, fast and fiery conditions typical of summer are expected but it’s the course’s electrifying green complexes where the tournament will be won or lost.
The bent grass greens are wild and are the course’s main form of defence, along with exacting runoff areas.
If approach shots are slightly askew, expect balls to be trickling off slopes into collection areas, which is another trademark Thomas design feature.
A finely-tuned approach game and dialled-in irons could save much heartache this year.
JORDAN SPIETH
He’s an enigma but is there any player in the world as thrilling to watch as Jordan Spieth?
For a player who lives on the edge as much as Spieth does, it’s not surprising he hasn’t added to his major haul since the 2017 British Open.
And the reason Spieth is so compelling to watch probably explains his recent record in majors.
Spraying the driver off the tee has been his major weakness, putting him under pressure to hit the kinds of remarkable recovery shots that only he is brave enough to attempt and pull off.
Losing a playoff at Hilton Head in April proved his game is close and a top five at the Memorial last start will only fuel his belief that a fourth major win is just around the corner.
However, you do get a sense that despite winning the title in 2015, the US Open is probably the least likely major Spieth will win because of its premium on accuracy.
Jordan’s genius short game will keep him in it, but the question is for how long?
KURT KITAYAMA
You have to go back to 2005 for the last truly left-field US Open winner, the year Kiwi Michael Campbell beat Tiger Woods at Pinehurst by two shots.
On face value, if Kurt Kitayama were to win in LA it may outstrip Cambo’s massive upset.
But on closer inspection, it mightn’t be such a huge surprise.
The 30-year-old American hasn’t exactly shone in the majors he’s played in his career thus far, but the penny may have started to drop.
After winning the Arnold Palmer Championship in March, Kitayama finished tied fourth at the PGA Championship last month.
It was his best result in a major by a fair margin and Kitayama is currently riding the greatest form of his career.
Perhaps the aspect of Kitayama’s game that deserves the most attention when assessing his chances in LA is that he knows how to win golf tournaments — and he’s done it in almost every part of the world.
Can he ride his hot streak to a surprise major win? As a native Californian, a US Open in LA will be his best chance of winning a hometown major.
BARRANCA AND BERMUDA
If you’ve seen the Genesis Invitational at Riviera you’re probably familiar with the term barranca, which is a deep, dry gully with steep sides.
LA Country Club’s signature barranca meanders through much of its front nine and finding it will be trouble.
However, the course’s Bermuda rough appears the most difficult aspect of the course in US Open trim.
Bermuda rough is nothing new to tour players familiar with the PGA Tour’s early season west coast swing. But over the summer months it gets much thicker, lusher, grainier and gnarlier.
Balls tend to settle down deep in the rough and it’ll be grabbing and twisting club heads as players attempt to muscle their way out of it.
Avoiding it, especially around the greens, will be the key to avoiding a costly blow out during US Open week.
MAX HOMA
Californian Max Homa hasn’t quite clicked in the majors he’s played in so far but could some local knowledge be the difference this year?
Homa, a Southern California native, has proven he’s a master on the West Coast swing.
He won in LA at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in 2021 and claimed the Farmer’s Insurance Open in San Diego in January this year for the sixth PGA Tour title of his career.
His expertise on west coast courses might prove to be the jumpstart Max desperately needs to start contending in major championships.
SON OF A GUNN
Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul earned a start in the US Open after winning the qualifier in Japan last month.
The 31-year-old will make his second major start at the US Open after playing at the Open Championship in 2019, where he missed the cut.
While a US Open is unfamiliar territory for Charoenkul, who will be making his first appearance in America, he is a familiar face on the Japan and Asian Tours where he has amassed an impressive 12 tournament wins during his career.
Gunn represented Thailand at the Tokyo Olympics and finished sixth at the NZ PGA Championship earlier this year.
BRYSON IS BACK?
Did the PGA Championship almost prove that Bryson DeChambeau is back? And not just his golf game?
Bryson’s demeanour was different at Oak Hill, where he seemed to shed his golf villain tag at his cheerfully insightful post round press conferences.
Gone was the golf nerd talk. And also missing was the muscular bulk he’d piled on in his search for speed, his new diet seeing him shed the pounds of the past three years almost instantaneously.
He did seem happier, probably in part because he was no longer hangry for a protein shake, and his golf showed it, too.
He led after the first round and finished tied for fourth, his best result in a major since he won the US Open in 2020 at Winged Foot.
And he even hung around to high five winner Brooks Koepka, his former long-running adversary.
Will a much happier Bryson snag another US Open win in LA? You have to think the chances of that happening are now greatly improved.
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Written by Jamie Martin Jamie Martin is currently locked in a battle to keep his handicap hovering around the mid-single digits. Despite his obvious short-game shortcomings, Jamie enjoys playing and writing about every aspect of golf and is often seen making practice swings in a mirror. |