This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
Sunday at the 123rd U.S. Open began as a four-man race for the title. Rickie Fowler, Wyndham Clark, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler.
By the back nine, it turned into a two-man race.
Challengers kept falling by the wayside, yet the least likely winner of them all refused to go away.
Clark, who hadn't even won a tournament of any kind until last month, withstood the presence of three golfers far more accomplished than him to capture his first major title, capping off a riveting final 90 minutes at Los Angeles Country Club.
Clark built a three-shot lead over McIlroy early on the back nine, but the finish became tense after he bogeyed Nos. 15 and 16. His short game saved him, and he fended off McIlroy, who came up oh-so-short yet again, by one stroke.
To say that the 29-year-old Denver native is finally tapping into his potential would be an understatement. Just six weeks ago, Clark stared down Xander Schauffele to capture the Wells Fargo Championship for his first PGA Tour title. On Sunday, it was McIlroy, Fowler and Scheffler.
Three of those guys are top-5 golfers and Fowler used to be. In between those two tournaments, Clark even contended at the Memorial until a Sunday fade. Where did all this come from? And why now, all of a sudden?
Clark's driver has always been great, and his putter pretty good too. But he had trouble closing the deal.
Clark said on Golf Channel on Sunday evening that "in the last six, seven months, I've worked real hard on my mental game, trying to slow things down."
That's been the real difference, though Clark's short game was excellent as well Sunday when things started to go sideways. Clark ranked seventh in the field in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green to go along with second in SG: Off-the-Tee and fourth in SG: Putting. All great, right? He was also 43rd in SG: Approach. For a major champion's iron play to be so off is virtually unheard of, but the rest of Clark's game was elite to cover him.
The victory continues a curious but too-real trend that cannot be ignored. Clark is the fifth straight golfer whose U.S. Open win was their first major title -- Gary Woodland (2019), Bryson DeChambeau (2020), Jon Rahm (2021) and Matt Fitzpatrick (2022). Going back to 2009, 12 of the 15 U.S. Open winners made it their first major title.
We will see Clark next in a few days, unless he drops out of this week's Travelers Championship. Clark will also have to make time in the fall for another tournament -- the Ryder Cup. He is now second in the Standings for Team USA and, even if he would fall out of the top six automatic qualifying positions, there's little doubt Zach Johnson would use one of his captain's picks to get Clark on the team.
He could be competing for a spot with the likes of Tony Finau, Sam Burns, Cameron Young, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa. Why mention those guys specifically? Because now that Clark is up to a career-high 13th in the world, he's ranked ahead of all them.
Just six weeks ago, Clark wasn't in the same area code as those counterparts. Now, he's a two-time winner and a major champion.
MONDAY BACKSPIN
Rory McIlroy
How many different ways can it be said that McIlroy came up just short in a major again? He ranked 57th in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting on Sunday, out of 65. Just like at the Open Championship 11 months ago, he couldn't sink a putt.
Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler never made a run on Sunday. He shot even-par 70 for solo third, three strokes behind Clark. He ranked 47th in the field in putting on Sunday and 37th for the week. That's better than he had been putting but obviously not good enough.
Cameron Smith
At a course where it was apparent that short game and putting would figure prominently, Smith was an obvious consideration. He finished solo fourth and should be in the mix again next month at the Open Championship.
Rickie Fowler
It wasn't much of a surprise that Fowler was in the final group of a U.S. Open on Sunday – his resurgent golf this season had been that good. On Sunday, it took the day off. Fowler finished 64th out of 65 guys in Strokes Gained: Approach, losing almost three strokes to the field. "Iron play was very below average," he said after shooting a 5-over 75. A final bogey dropped Fowler from T4 to T5, costing him an automatic berth in next year's Masters. But he moved up to 35th in the world and, should he stay in the top-50 at year's end, which is likely, he'd get to Augusta that way.
Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood surged up the leaderboard into a tie for fifth with a Sunday 63, one that could've been a record-tying 62 had he sank a five-footer for birdie on 18. It was his second final-round 63 in a U.S. Open, after doing it at Shinnecock in 2018. It was just a week ago that Fleetwood endured a heart-wrenching playoff loss at the Canadian Open. He's up to 20th in the world and it would appear he's close to winning a tournament. Then again, he still hasn't won a PGA Tour event.
Min Woo Lee
Lee tied for fifth. He also tied for six at THE PLAYERS in March. In between, not much. To perform so well at two of the five biggest tournaments in the world, at completely different types of courses, speaks to the 24-year-old Australian's future. He'll need to develop better consistency, and that usually comes with age.
Harris English
English continues to show he's all the way back from last year's hip surgery. He tied for eighth, extending a great run at the U.S. Open -- he tied for fourth in 2020 and for third in 2021. English now heads to the Travelers, which he won in 2021.
Tom Kim
Kim tied for eighth, and that was his first top-10 since January. It has not been a great sophomore season for Kim, but he is doing well in the majors, at least, also tying for 16th at the Masters.
Jon Rahm
Rahm was never in contention and got visibly angry by slamming clubs in response to his poor performance over the first three days. But all history will remember is a top-10 finish thanks to a Sunday 65.
Austin Eckroat
Eckroat has really been coming on the past few months, and his tie for 10th punctuates it. Maybe the next great player out of Oklahoma State -- although Clark also went there before transferring to Oregon -- the 24-year-old Eckroat has made six straight cuts, including a runner-up at the Byron Nelson and a top-20 at the Charles Schwab. He has zoomed into the top-100 in the world rankings for the first time, at No. 85.
Xander Schauffele
Schauffele opened with a 62. But unlike Fowler, who also opened at 8-under, he could not maintain it. He hit a remarkable number of bad shots on a 73-72 weekend that landed him in a tie for 10th.
Dustin Johnson
Johnson was a non-factor in the first two majors before spending much of this weekend on the first page of the leaderboard. He faded on Sunday into a tie for 10th. At 38, he can still bring it on occasion but is no longer the same guy who was No. 1 in the world.
Brooks Koepka
Koepka never got it going and tied for 17th. He'll still be among the top few favorites for next month's Open Championship.
Nick Hardy
Hardy has not had a good year. In fact, it's been terrible. But he apparently has a game well-suited for the U.S. Open. He was T14 last year and now T20 this year. His lone top-25 all year before this had come in the alternate-field event in the Dominican Republic.
Denny McCarthy
McCarthy tied for 20th, after a T29 at the PGA and after a T7 at last year's U.S. Open. There are only a half-dozen tournaments left before the playoffs, but McCarthy is trending toward winning one soon.
Padraig Harrington
One 50-something golfer did make the cut. Now on the Champions Tour, Harrington continues to show he can compete with the best in the world. He tied for 27th, and that was after a Sunday fade with a 73. He also made the cut this year at the PGA Championship, Bay Hill, the Valero and the Honda, and he's up to 180th in the world.
Gordon Sargent
The 20-year-old Vanderbilt golfer tied for 39th to win low amateur of the four who made the cut. Sargent also played in the Masters but missed the cut. He won the NCAA Division I individual championship as a freshman last year, so we won't see too much of him in the near future.
MISSED CUTS
Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas, Max Homa, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Cam Davis, Sungjae Im, Justin Rose, Adam Scott. With such an emphasis on short game this week, it seemingly favored Mickelson. Yet he had a second bad major in a row, after tying for 58th at the PGA. It seems his runner-up at the Masters, while a great performance, could be attributed to Mickelson's intricate knowledge of Augusta more than the state of his game at age 53. … Thomas continues to flounder, missing the cut by a wide margin, and is now down to 18th in the world. Something is way off, or he's injured, or something. … Homa continues to not be competitive in majors. … Spieth was the biggest surprise in this group, because he is the best golfer among them. He's one of the few big names skipping this week's Travelers. … Day switched his irons right before the Open and that doesn't seem like the best plan.
