Wyndham Clark of Denver, Colorado has won the 2023 United States Open. On Sunday, Clark posted a score of -10 to win his first major championship from the Los Angeles Country Club in southern California.
Clark defeated Rory McIlroy of Holywood, Northern Ireland by one stroke and 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler of Ridgewood, New Jersey by three strokes. McIlroy finished the tournament at -9 and Scheffler was at -7.
This was Clark’s second win of 2023. He previously won the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina. There he posted a four round score of -19 to beat the reigning Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele of San Diego, California by four strokes.
On Sunday, Clark was not spectacular, but was good enough. He entered the day tied with Rickie Fowler for the lead at -10. While Clark had a score of even par for his final round, Fowler shot a score of five over par and dropped to fifth place. Clark had four birdies and four bogeys. He birdied the first, fourth, sixth, and 14th holes, and bogeyed the second, eighth, 15th and 16th holes.
According to ESPN, this was the first time that Clark had made the cut at the U.S. Open. He previously missed the cut in 2021 and 2022. In fact, the 2022 British Open was the only other time at a major Clark made the cut. Clark becomes only the fourth golfer in the last century to win the U.S. Open the first time he made the cut. He follows Orville Moody of Chickasha, Oklahoma (won in 1969 after missing the cut in 1962), Lee Janzen of Austin, Minnesota (won in 1993 after missing the cut in 1985, 1991, 1992) and Lucas Glover of Greenville, South Carolina (won in 2009 after missing the cut in 2002, 2006, and 2007).
This has been a great time for Denver sports in the last week. Clark follows the Denver Nuggets, which won their first NBA Finals in franchise history, on Monday.
