Wyndham Clark Is Now a 2-Time US Open Champ Much to the Dismay of Many Golf Fans

Wyndham Clark is a two-time US Open champion. He won wire-to-wire at Shinnecock, and the crew's verdict was simple: appreciate what you are witnessing, because the crowd did not.

The story has roots in 2023. One of the hosts recalled being at the Los Angeles Country Club that year on a Father's Day media pass, watching Clark become a first-time major champion. (He also picked up a parking ticket for parking where he was not supposed to.) Fast forward to 2026, and Clark led after round one, round two, and round three, then pushed his advantage out to seven strokes.

He was not just leading. He was obliterating everyone, beating up a course that was beating up everybody else. The name Shinnecock came up over and over, a layout with peaks and valleys that one host compared to a putt-putt course for all its obstacles, with players sighing over putt after putt. He had a nickname for it: he called it "the Shinnecock was the US pin," riffing on how punishing every shot was.

Sunday tested Clark anyway. He started with a six-shot lead, seemingly insurmountable, but in the opening hour it was cut in half. Sam Burns came out hot with a couple of birdies while Clark bogeyed early. Suddenly it was a tournament, essentially head-to-head for three hours, and the margin got down to one shot on the back nine. Then Clark, seemingly in jail off the tee on a par five, got out and drained a 15- to 20-footer for birdie to push the lead back to two, a cushion he did not need after a bogey on 17.

What the crew kept circling back to was the crowd. Nobody was cheering for Clark. He was hitting unbelievable shots, getting up and down from all over the place, and fans were yelling "get in the bunker" on tee shots and cheering when he missed short putts. Two patrons were kicked out for acting like lunatics. One host connected it to the same crowd behavior at last year's Ryder Cup, where fans went after Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy had people removed.

The crew did not excuse Clark's history. He smashed a locker at Oakmont last year, a massive no-no, and has had outbursts and smashed sponsorship signs before. He works with a sports psychologist. But here he was, dominating a US Open where the course was the star.

There were reasons fans had other rooting interests. Scottie Scheffler was chasing the career grand slam, and it was his birthday. Rory won the Masters. The crew understood it. They just wanted the booing to stop and the performance to get its due.

The button came from Mike Tirico, who noted that Clark's dad took a red-eye from Denver to be at Shinnecock. "He's never been there to see me win," Clark said, calling it amazing to finally have him there, especially on Father's Day. He thanked his team, John Ellis, his agent, his swing coach, his trainers, and his family. The shot of Clark hugging his dad, who said he was so glad to be there, said the rest.