US Open agony for Rory McIlroy as unheralded Wyndham Clark claims shock LA win

Clark closed with a 70 for a 10-under-par total, with 2010 winner McIlroy having to settle for the bridesmaid’s role on this occasion after signing for the same last-day score.

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler, who also carded a level-par closing effort, finished two shots further back in third, with Open champion Cameron Smith signing off with a 67 to claim fourth spot on six-under.

Rickie Fowler, who shared the lead with Clark at the start of the day, closed with a disappointing 75 to end up in a tie for fifth with Tommy Fleetwood (63) and Min Woo Lee (67).

Clark’s sensational success – he’s the fifth first-time major winner in a row in the US Open – came after missing the cut in his two previous appearances in this event while his previous best finish in a major had been a tie for 52nd in the 2021 PGA Championship.

He’d shown potential when winning the Wells Fargo Championship in May, but, with all due respect, no-one saw this coming from him in the third major of the season,

Not with McIlroy in particular breathing down his neck heading into the final round but also with the likes of Scheffler in the mix as well. Clark, though, was up to the task and, producing a chipping masterclass at times, he held off the chasing pack in the City of Angels.

“First one was surreal and this one is surreal,” said Clark of his two successes in recent weeks. “It hasn't quite hit me yet. Walking up 18 was pretty emotional, and then finishing.

It's been a whirlwind the last five, six weeks. Just so blessed and humbled to be here.”

McIlroy started with a two-putt birdie but, as he then went on a run of pars, it brought back painful memories of his putter turning cold in the final round of the 150th Open at St Andrews last summer, when he ended up losing out to Smith.

Having fallen two shots behind Clark after the American covered the opening six holes in two under, the four-time major winner would have been particularly disappointed to miss a short birdie putt at the par-5 eighth, but it was a bonus that he didn’t lose further ground.

Clark’s second shot there ended up in a nasty spot in the barranca on the left of the green and his first attempt to get it out went right under the ball before doing well to limit the damage to a bogey.

The leader then found himself having to grip down the club as he stood in a greenside bunker at the ninth with the ball around knee high, but, using the slope, he got it to around seven feet and his fist pump showed what it meant to save par.

He repeated the feat two holes later and this one was arguably better, almost holing a crisply-hit chip from a bare lie from down the bank on the left on the 295-yard par 3, where Fowler’s challenge was effectively extinguished as a fourth bogey of the round dropped him four shots off the lead.

With Scheffler, who was playing alongside McIlroy, dropping his second shot in successive holes around the same time, it was down to a two-horse race between Clark and McIlroy, especially as the fast-finishing Smith was beginning to run out of holes.

McIlroy, who last won a major in 2014, was handed a huge break when his third shot from 125 yards at the par-5 14th was deemed to have plugged itself in the face of a bunker at the front of the green, but, disappointingly for him, he was unable to take advantage of it.

In missing from nine feet to save par, the world No 3 dropped his first shot in 19 holes and it couldn’t have come at a worst time, especially as Clark then found the green with his second at the 14th and duly extended his lead to three shots with a comfortable two-putt birdie.

That comfy cushion didn’t last long as, for once, he was unable to get up and down from just off the edge of the green at the short 15th and, seconds after his tee shot at the 16th found sand, McIlroy made a gutsy par save up at the green after seeing his long birdie attempt trundle seven feet past the hole.

After taking his medicine from near the face of that bunker, Clark hit a brilliant third shot from 128 yards to around six feet but couldn’t convert the putt, meaning his lead was suddenly down to just one shot after back-to-back bogeys.

A brilliant chip shot that was close to going in at the par-4 17th steadied the ship, though, and, from a bit further away than he’d have liked, a lovely lag putt at the last left him a tap in for victory.

Earlier, Fleetwood missed from five feet at the last after setting up a glorious chance to become just the fourth player to card a 62 in a major, but his initial disappointment about that was tempered by him becoming the first player to sign off with two 63s in a US Open, having also carded that score on the last day at Shinnecock Hills in 2018.

"I just need to be higher up the leaderboard coming into Sunday and then have another day like today," said the Englishman. "It's a nice little piece of history, of course it is. And you can be disappointed with what I didn't get out of today.

“But I think having something like that and shooting multiple 63s in a major ... where you can put it in the memory bank and know that you can get rounds going and your game can stand up on a major golf course and shoot low scores is really nice to have."