Round 4 Review: U.S. Open

THE WINNER

Sports fans who dive into golf for major-championship season are likely familiar with the names Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, two of the top-three finishers on a star-studded leaderboard at the 123rd U.S. Open.

Time to learn the name, Wyndham Clark.

Clark earned his first major title Sunday at the U.S. Open, carding a four-round total of 10 under at The Los Angeles Country Club to finish one clear of McIlroy, a four-time major champion and world No. 3.

Scheffler, world No. 1, finished solo third, three shots back.

Clark began the final round in a share of the lead with Rickie Fowler, who struggled to a closing 75, and hung tough on an increasingly difficult Sunday afternoon with a series of crafty par-saves, capped off with a two-putt par from 59 feet on the closing hole to post even-par 70 and outlast McIlroy, who made 16 pars, a birdie and a bogey from the penultimate pairing.

After earning his TOUR card via the 2018 Korn Ferry Tour, Clark went nearly five years without a victory before breaking through at last month’s Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club, a course where driving distance – one of Clark’s strengths – is rewarded. Clark, 29, used a similar formula around LACC, pushing the ball down the fairway to yield short-iron approaches into the venue’s slick greens. The University of Oregon alum finished No. 2 for the week in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, ranking seventh in distance and 24th in accuracy, and he placed No. 4 in Strokes Gained: Putting. The combination proved potent.

With rounds of 64-67-69-70, Clark maintained an even keel as conditions toughened into the weekend, but he grew emotional afterward when thinking of his mom Lise, who died in 2013 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.

Lise encouraged her son to “play big,” a mantra he carries with him to this day. As the sun set over Hollywood on a serene Sunday evening, it was clear that Clark had done just that.

“I just felt like my mom was watching over me today,” Clark said.

No argument there.

THE STORYLINES

Rory remains confident despite latest close call: In pursuit of his fifth major championship, Rory McIlroy says it often feels like he’s trying to win his first again. When it’s been nine years since the last victory, who could blame him?

We saw both sides of McIlroy on Sunday. At times, the blend of discipline and patience that only comes when you’ve won a handful of majors was there. At other times, the most inopportune times, the 34-year-old showed the nerves typical for a hopeful first-time winner.

With only Clark standing in his way for much of the back nine, McIlroy was solid but unable to convert that one wedge or that one putt that would have put him over the edge. It was the difference alone between long-awaited jubilation and heartbreak. His final-round 70 left him one shot short.

“When I do finally win this next major, it's going to be really, really sweet. I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship,” McIlroy said.

There are only two shots McIlroy would take back. A missed 4-footer for birdie on the par-5 eighth hole – and a gap wedge approach on the par-5 14th that held up in the wind, embedded in the rough lip of a greenside bunker and led to bogey. As Clark scrambled from everywhere, edging out par after par when things got tough, those two mistakes from McIlroy loomed large.

“Apart from that, I did everything else the way I wanted to,” he said.

His game plan all week was patience. Continue to do the right play, the smart play and good things will happen. He dialed back on the number of drivers he hit and still ranked first in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Tee-to-Green. He led the field in greens hit. He just needed a putt to drop, but he couldn’t convert anything outside 10 feet in the final round. It’s the latest in a series of close calls for McIlroy, but the No. 3 player in the world remains undeterred.

“The more I keep putting myself in these positions, sooner or later it's going to happen for me,” he said.

Scheffler lurks again: It has become a common refrain in golf media circles of late – Scottie Scheffler is magnetized to the leaderboard. No matter the severity of adversity thrown at him, or the length of a dry spell on the greens, he’ll be there at the end. His ball-striking is too good to expect otherwise.

And so, the narrative carries on. Scheffler was vexed at times on the greens throughout the week at LACC, including three missed putts inside 8 feet in a four-hole stretch on the back nine Sunday, but his pinpoint precision ensured he’d have a chance once again. Sure enough, the world No. 1 stood mathematically alive for the title as he approached the 18th green Sunday – he would need a specific confluence of events, but he was there. That’s the magnetism.

Scheffler finished the week at No. 6 in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and No. 7 in Strokes Gained: Approach. He ranked just 37th, though, in Strokes Gained: Putting, just not making enough putts to capture his second major title. With rounds of 67-68-68-70, he finished 7 under, three off Clark’s winning pace.

“I just felt like I wasn't sharp enough today to move up the board,” Scheffler said afterward. “I did a good job of keeping myself in it, but I just wasn't sharp enough.”

Still, it’s his ninth top-10 in his last 12 major starts, and it’s safe to say he isn’t going away.

“I fought hard today, and I'm obviously a little frustrated to come up short, but I put up a good fight,” Scheffler said. “Wyndham played some fantastic golf this week and so he is a well deserving champion.”

Fowler’s firepower fades: Rickie Fowler made 21 birdies through three days. He made just two on Sunday. That was the story for the resurgent Fowler, who couldn’t conjure up the same firepower in the final round as the mistakes finally caught up to him.

While his 23 birdies are a new U.S. Open record, his 18 bogeys were the most among anyone in the top 30. And the seven in his final round proved particularly costly as Fowler’s final-round 75 dashed his hopes for a maiden major championship victory.

The result is a stinging feeling that Fowler has felt more than most over the last decade. He’s now finished inside the top 10 in 13 majors since 2010, the most of any player who has not won a major.

The pillars of his game that helped Fowler grab the share of his first 54-hole lead in a major – ball-striking and putting – evaded him over the final 18 holes. He lost strokes to the field in both areas, hitting only nine greens with a tournament-high 31 putts.

“I just didn't have it today. Iron play was very below average and didn't make anything,” he said.

While disappointing, the finish is a positive sign for the 34-year-old. Fowler is in the midst of an inspired season, back inside the top-25 of the FedExCup and the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking. It’s his first U.S. Open since 2020 and his first top-five in a major since the 2018 Masters. He has 13 top-25 finishes in 18 events this season.

“As much as it sucks to not be in the position I wanted to be after today, we're just continuing to build and continuing to move forward,” he said.

NOTABLES

Cameron Smith (6 under): The Australian made a charge on the difficult back nine, making birdie on 11, 12 and 15 to card a bogey-free final nine holes. That was more than enough to shoot up the leaderboard as plenty of others fell back as the sun set on Sunday. It’s his best U.S. Open finish since a T4 in 2015.

Tommy Fleetwood (5 under): A 7-footer away from matching the major championship single-round record of 62, the Englishman settled for becoming the first person to shoot 63 twice in U.S. Open history. He shot 63 during the final round of the 2018 U.S. Open. He made four birdies and two eagles, including the first all week at the par-5 14th. “Days like today where you can put 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,” he said.

Min Woo Lee (5 under): The TOUR Special Temporary Member fell out of serious contention with a third-round 74, but his week ended on a high note with a bogey-free 67 on Sunday, good for the 24-year-old Australian’s first top-10 in a major.

Austin Eckroat (3 under): A day after Kim’s record-tying 29 on the front nine, Eckroat matched the young American and missed a 12-foot birdie on No. 9 that would’ve given him a 28. “Every time someone gets off to a good start at a U.S. Open from now on, they'll put on the nine-hole scoring record, and my name will be up there. That's pretty cool,” Eckroat said. The Oklahoma State grad is coming into his own in his first full season on TOUR, with two top-five finishes since March and six consecutive made cuts.

Jon Rahm (3 under): The No. 2 player in the world was part of an early Sunday surge of low scores, racking up six birdies to just one bogey to close out his U.S. Open with a 65. Rahm struggled on a gettable first day, carding a 1-under 69, before playing Friday and Saturday 3-over overall.

Xander Schauffele (3 under): A constant factor in U.S. Opens, the Californian racked up yet another top-10 finish in his national championship. A final-round 72 was enough for T10. He’s never finished worse than T14 in seven appearances.

Gordon Sargent (4 over): A Sunday 69 was more than enough for the rising Vanderbilt junior to earn low amateur honors. He finished nine strokes clear of Ben Carr. It was a colorful scorecard for Sargent, who tallied six birdies and five bogeys in the final round of his U.S. Open debut.

Matt Fitzpatrick (1 under): The reigning U.S. Open champion never seriously factored but carded rounds of 71-70-68-70 for his fourth top-25 in nine U.S. Open showings.

Padraig Harrington (2 over): The reigning U.S. Senior Open champion wasn’t here just for show, as he made the cut on the number with rounds of 73-69, then carded 3-under 67 in Saturday’s third round, one off the day’s low score. Despite a final-round 73, it’s still a solid T27 finish for the 51-year-old Irishman.

BY THE NUMBERS

23: Birdies by Rickie Fowler, a new U.S. Open record. Brendan Steele held the previous record of 22 at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills.

+8000: Clark’s pre-tournament betting odds to win the U.S. Open. It’s the longest odds of any player to win the U.S. Open since 2010.

75: Clark’s best finish in a major before winning the U.S. Open. He finished T75 at the 2021 PGA Championship and had made the cut in only two of his five major appearances before this week.

5: Consecutive top-10 finishes at the U.S. Open for Rory McIlroy.