Everything was in place for a historic collapse by Wyndham Clark, and based on the jeers and taunts that followed him throughout the final round of the U.S. Open, the Shinnecock Hills fans would\u2019ve been OK with that. Everything was in place for an equally historic comeback by Sam Burns, too, and with Clark the villain, Burns emerged as the unlikely hero.<\/p>\n
Burns\u2019 birdie putt on the 18th hole rolled right up to the edge of the pin. When it didn\u2019t go in, he fell to his knees and flipped his putter, the reality of heartbreak for a second consecutive year at the U.S. Open starting to sink in. Clark soon made a 24-foot birdie putt on No. 16 and unleashed a powerful fist pump as his lead grew. Entering Sunday with a six-shot lead, Clark \u2014 whose locker-bashing incident at Oakmont last year turned him into a villain \u2014 did just enough to finish 4 under par and defeat Burns by a shot for his second U.S. Open win in the past four years.<\/p>\n
Wyndham Clark celebrates on the 16th hole during the 126th U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. on Sunday, June 21, 2026. Heather Khalifa for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, the first one was amazing,\u201d Clark, whose father surprised him by the 18th green on Father\u2019s Day, said with the trophy on the press conference table next to him, \u201cand this one seems even better. I think especially after such a sour taste last year in this championship, to have some redemption and win this again is \u2014 I mean, gosh, it\u2019s almost surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark was in a dark place after the Oakmont tournament, he admitted. He didn\u2019t go outside much in the days after it. Everything he\u2019d worked toward \u2014 his career, his reputation \u2014 started slipping away. Missing the U.S. Ryder Cup team was another \u201cjab in the stomach.\u201d Clark didn\u2019t necessarily think he\u2019d be in this spot one year later, but he and his team \u201cmade a cocoon\u201d to anchor his return to the summit of a major.<\/p>\n
Clark, who was 3 over Sunday, became the first wire-to-wire winner of the major since Martin Kaymer in 2014. He avoided an epic collapse like the one by Greg Norman in the 1996 Masters \u2014 still the only golfer to lose a major when leading by six or more shots entering the final round, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. And if Burns, who entered Sunday at even par, completed the seven-shot comeback, it would\u2019ve tied Arnold Palmer \u2014 who was in 15th place entering the final round in 1960 \u2014 for the largest comeback after 54 holes in tournament history.<\/p>\n
The jeers had followed him wherever he went. \u201cGet in the bunker\u201d shouts came after tee shots. There were \u201cdon\u2019t choke\u201d jabs that got fans ejected. If Clark thought the Shinnecock crowd was \u201cflat\u201d after his third round, then this was the polar opposite.<\/p>\n
Sam Burns reacts after missing a putt on the 18th hole during the final round of the 126th U.S. Open Golf Championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, NY, on Sunday, June 21, 2026. John Angelillo\/UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Wyndham Clark celebrates with his caddie David Pelekoudas after winning the U.S. Open golf tournament at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. AP Photo\/Seth Wenig<\/p>\n
\u201cThey definitely didn\u2019t want me to win,\u201d Clark said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty rare in an open championship or a major to have fans kind of boo against your shots or cheer for bad shots. \u2026 That was tough, but I also, like \u2014 I mean, sometimes being the underdog is nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, clung to the momentum from a blistering opening round as long as he possibly could. He was 3 over on the front nine Sunday, but it could\u2019ve been worse if he didn\u2019t save par on the fourth hole. Clark\u2019s second shot bounced twice on the walkway, and after he sank the putt, he pumped his fist.<\/p>\n
Wyndham Clark poses with the trophy after winning the 126th U.S. Open Championship. Heather Khalifa for NY Post<\/p>\n
He added a stroke to his lead with a birdie on No. 10 but lost it with a bogey on No. 13, and by that point, Burns had started to make a run. Entering the final round, Scottie Scheffler had been positioned as the chaser, as the one who finally seemed to have solved Shinnecock on the back nine Saturday and \u2014 in his push to finish the career Grand Slam on his birthday and Father\u2019s Day \u2014 upend Clark. But Scheffler failed to capitalize on his chances and finished in a tie for fourth (at even par) with J.T. Poston and Keith Mitchell. Tom Kim finished third at 1 under.<\/p>\n
So that left Burns. He sank four birdies on the front nine and was still looming before his putts narrowly missed on the final two holes. Clark birdied the 16th, bogeyed the 17th and then survived by two-putting for par on the 18th.<\/p>\n
For better or worse, Clark has become synonymous with the only major he has ever won. There was the title. The villainous turn. And here in eastern Long Island, a weeklong redemption tour that may or may not resonate in the court of public opinion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sure hope it closes the door on it,\u201d Clark said of his past year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everything was in place for a historic collapse by Wyndham Clark, and based on the jeers and taunts…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[66,959,310,164,1931,121,1260,68],"class_list":["post-4040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-golf","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-golf","tag-sam-burns","tag-shinnecock-hills","tag-sports","tag-us-open-golf","tag-wyndham-clark","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117328219014031446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}