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Winning a U.S. Open is never easy, even when holding a six-shot lead entering the final round. Wyndham Clark felt every bit of that pressure at Shinnecock Hills but nevertheless emerged victorious on Sunday afternoon after grinding out a final-round 73 to post 4 under, beating Sam Burns by one stroke to claim his second national championship.
With the victory, Clark became the 23rd man to win multiple U.S. Open titles and just the ninth to go wire-to-wire at a U.S. Open — the first since Martin Kaymer in 2014. His major championship résumé now includes two victories and just one other top-five finish — which is also his only other top 20 — but his ability to convert his A-game into major trophies was on full display this week as he outlasted the field, the course and the crowd to hoist more U.S. Open hardware.
Clark knew he would be the villain on Sunday given the Oakmont locker destruction a year ago and being in the final pairing alongside Scottie Scheffler, who was trying to complete the career grand slam. However, the crowd wasn’t just pro-Scheffler; it was actively anti-Clark with Shinnecock Hills emerging as a Ryder Cup-esque environment. Every Clark miss was cheered as the fans on Long Island hooted and hollered whenever he found a bunker or one of Shinnecock’s many runoffs. When he produced a great shot or holed a key putt, he was met with crickets — even his winning putt on the 18th was granted tepid applause.
“New York didn’t really like me. I love you guys,” Clark said. “I get it. Some of it’s self-deserved. I did some unfortunate things last year that I really regret and I’ve been sorry multiple times and I’m still sorry, so hopefully I can win you guys over eventually. But I get it, they root for Scottie. Grand Slams only happen a few times. He’s going to get it, he’s the best player in the world. But today is my day.”
Facing that kind of hostile environment, Clark stumbled through his front nine. His shaky ball-striking performance continued from Saturday, but his magical scrambling couldn’t hold up, making three bogeys and failing to put a birdie on the card to shoot a 38 on the front side. That opened the door for someone to emerge from the chase pack to give him a challenge.
Most anticipated Scheffler would be the one to push him, but the world No. 1 never got out of first gear on Sunday, extending his grand slam pursuit for at least one more year. Instead, it was Scheffler’s good buddy, Burns, who stepped up to the challenge, catching fire early to shoot a front nine 32 that trimmed Clark’s lead to just one as they moved to the back nine.
The back side at Shinnecock Hills has been where Clark has thrived all week, and as he strode up the hill from the 9th green to the 10th tee on the other side of the clubhouse, he was able to reset and find his swing again. Clark laced a low, cutting driver all the way down to the bottom of the hill, leaving 60 yards in for his second. Facing the steep false front short and a huge runoff long, Clark did what few have been able to from that close all week and hit a hard-spinning wedge off the backstop to just a few feet for birdie.
That hole seemed to settle Clark down, while Burns cooled off in front of him. However, Shinnecock wasn’t done producing drama. Burns found a key birdie on the 16th, while Clark made a bogey behind him on the 13th, and the lead dropped back to just one.
Burns, the 54-hole leader at last year’s U.S. Open, produced two more great birdie looks with striped irons on Nos. 17 and 18, but the normally excellent putter could not cash in on either, collapsing to the green on the 18th as his birdie bid to post 4 under in the clubhouse slid by the right edge.
With Burns in at 3 under, Clark knew what he needed to do, but he was going to have to find some positivity on his own because no one else on the grounds at Shinnecock was going to lift his spirits. As was the case on Saturday, when he made an unbelievable eagle, the 16th hole proved pivotal.
Clark tugged his tee shot into the left fescue off the tee but drew a good enough lie to get a club on it and advanced it just over the bunkers on the left to find the fairway. From there, he again pulled a wedge to the left, finding the back edge of the green and leaving what seemed like a tricky putt up and over the hill. But on a week where Clark’s putter bailed him out time and again, the flat stick had a little more magic left in it.
That gave Clark a two-shot lead going to the final two holes, and he needed each of those strokes. A three-putt bogey on the 17th put the stress right back on him, and he sailed a cut into the primary cut of rough on the right side of the fairway. After finding the front of the green, he needed a two-putt from 52 feet, 5 inches and once again leaned on his weapon of choice, the putter, to deliver the victory, cozying it up to a tap-in for par and the victory.
On a day where everything was working against him, Clark dug deep to produce just enough moments of brilliance to get the job done. That’s what the U.S. Open demands more than anything else, and all week, he was the man up to that task better than anyone else.
“I played some ugly golf the last two days but my putter and short game kind of kept me in it, and, yeah, to make all the putts I did with my Ping putter that I love so much has been amazing,” Clark said. “But honestly it comes down to just believing that good things will happen and you’re gonna make the putt, and fortunately the ones that I needed to make I did.”
Clark now makes it 10 American winners in the last 12 U.S. Opens, as the national championship stays on home soil once again. He joins Tiger Woods (3), Bryson DeChambeau (2), Brooks Koepka (2) and Retief Goosen (2) as the only men to win multiple U.S. Open titles since 2000, and he’s one of four players alongside Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele to win multiple major titles over the past five years. That’s quite the résumé boost for a man who entered this year’s tournament with just two career top 20s in major championships, but he’s proven that when he is at his best, his game can hold up to the toughest test in golf better than just about anyone else.
2026 U.S. Open leaderboard breakdown
2. Sam Burns (-3): Burns will spend a long time replaying those missed putts on the 17th and 18th holes, and while the miss on No. 18 produced the bigger reaction, it was the weak effort from just inside 10 feet that may haunt him most.
Still, Burns continues to affirm his place as one of the best golfers in the world right now. After collapsing as the 54-hole leader a year ago at Oakmont, he got his revenge on a U.S. Open Sunday with a 67 that was one of the best rounds of the day under incredible pressure late. It will take some time to get over the final two holes when he had a chance to force a playoff or grab the win outright, but Burns should walk away from Shinnecock Hills with even more confidence that his game is major championship caliber.
3. Tom Kim (-1): Tom Kim is one of seven men in history to shoot under par in a U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. That is not something anyone expected coming into the week, and while, like Burns, his tournament didn’t end quite as he hoped, for someone who had to go through qualifying just to make the field, Kim has to feel like this was a huge week for him. It’s been a rough couple of seasons on the PGA Tour for a player who burst on the scene with three wins early, but playing this well in this kind of test has to do wonders for his confidence going forward with his game.
T4. Scottie Scheffler (E): It was shocking how little juice Scheffler had on Sunday. He had a front row seat to Wyndham Clark’s first nine collapse and in years past you would’ve anticipated the World No. 1 to pounce on that and make his attack. Instead, he stalled out right alongside Clark and the only pressure Clark felt was from a few groups in front. Sunday’s round felt like a microcosm of the season for Scheffler, who hasn’t been able to sync up many rounds where his ball-striking and putting are at their best. The result is another top 5 in a U.S. Open, but on a day where the career grand slam was certainly within reach, he didn’t even give himself a chance to take a run at history.
