Not Wyndham Rewarding Enough

On Saturday night, I was thrilled with the prospect of Rickie, Rory, or Scottie walking off 18 as U.S. Open champion in less than 24 hours. A big name winning the LACC edition of our national open always seemed inevitable, and we had three of the biggest with great chances to do so. Sure Wyndham Clark was there as well, but he was strictly going to serve the “one of these things is not like other” role on Sunday, right?

Wrong.

Instead Clark served up a tight rope walk performance highlighted by an all-world up and down on the par-3 9th and a trick shot (according to Zinger) chip on 11 that kept things on the rails during the middle portion of his final round. Capitalizing with a birdie on 14 after dropping his second shot, a 279 yard 3-wood, onto the smallest of landing areas all but sealed the deal for Clark.

Three. Shot. Lead. @Wyndham_Clark widens his lead after a stellar second shot into No. 14 leads to birdie #USOpen pic.twitter.com/eoEPd6yzsh

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 19, 2023

The emotion came out on 18 as friends and family congratulated Clark on his breakthrough victory. When he referenced his mom who he lost to cancer during his college days, the Hollywood ending really came into focus. On paper, Clark’s final round checked all the boxes for the type of ending we as fans crave and hope comes to fruition four times a year. The problem was the giant shadow from another poor putting day from Scottie, a juiceless round from Rickie, and a St. Andrews 2.0 performance from Rory clouded the conclusion. It left me (and many others if you took a peek at Twitter last night) wanting more.

Maybe we were due for a non-big name major winner. Maybe down the road, the disappointment in Scottie, Rickie, and Rory will turn to appreciation for Wyndham. Maybe this was just a case of the actual golf never having a chance to live up to the hype and anticipation. Time will tell, but I think my overall feeling looking back at this week will be, what if?

What are your feelings on yesterday’s final round? Did Clark’s performance deliver for you or were you all in on one of the big names coming out on top?