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To live and die in LA: Wyndham Clark emerges with US Open title
A glance at Sunday’s final two pairings would probably have elicited the following ranking: Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, followed by Rickie Fowler, followed by Wyndham Clark. Both McIlroy and Scheffler hold major titles, while Fowler had oh-so-close finishes throughout his career. Before Sunday, Clark’s T75 finish at the 2021 PGA Championship was his best major performance, barely edging out his T76 at the 2022 Open Championship. In Tinseltown, anything can happen, and some dreams actually become reality. On June 18th, Wyndham Clark posted an even-par round of 70, edging Rory McIlroy by one shot for the 123rd United States Open Championship. As the least likely to triumph among the final four, how exactly did Wyndham Clark defy our odds and claim an entirely-unanticipated title? Let’s try to break it down.
The moment @Wyndham_Clark became a major champion. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/TIlB87G3o3
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 19, 2023
The Surface Numbers
Wyndham Clark scored worse each day. That sounds bad, doesn’t it? When your worst score is even par, however, it’s not. Clark opened with 64, just two shots higher than those record-breaking 62s from Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele. On Friday, he added three shots to his total for 67, and followed it with 69 on Saturday. A pair of late bogeys on Sunday made the finish more compelling, and took Clark out of the 60s for the first time all week.
Over the course of the week, Wyndham Clark tallied one eagle, nineteen birdies, and eleven bogies. His total of 270 strokes over four days represents the second-lowest total in US Open history. Only McIlroy’s 268 in 2011 exceeded this year’s winning score. Clark tied for second in total birdies this week; only Fowler’s 23 surpassed his number.
As often happens with champions, Clark avoided big numbers this week. There weren’t a lot of double and triple bogies at Los Angeles country club’s North course this week, but it was easy to get on a bogey express and ride it for a distance. Only twice did Clark etch consecutive bogeys on his scorecard, and until Sunday’s late struggle, had no more than three bogeys in one round.
Three. Shot. Lead. @Wyndham_Clark widens his lead after a stellar second shot into No. 14 leads to birdie #USOpen pic.twitter.com/eoEPd6yzsh
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 19, 2023
A Deeper Dive
As might be expected, Clark did nothing poorly this week, and only one or two things in an average manner. Over the 72 holes of the tournament, Clark tied for 3rd in putting, and ranked 4th in strokes gained putting. His driving distance was seventh-best, and he ranked 2nd in strokes gained off the tee. Finally, Clark also ranked in the top ten for strokes gained short game and greens in regulation. The only categories that saw average performance from the Colorado native were strokes gained approach (43rd) and fairways hit (24th.) How do you finish 9th in GIR, yet 43rd in SGA? That’s the mystery of statistics.
How did McIlroy not claim a second US Open title? Putting. The Northern Irishman was 1st on the week for strokes gained off the tee, and also for greens in regulation. His putting was not up to the same standard. The 2011 champion was 33rd in strokes gained putting, and tied for 42nd in total putts. Subtract just two putts from his total, and McIlroy raises Victoria.
A similar tale of woe befell third-place finisher Scottie Scheffler. Not as strong from tee to green as the aforementioned two, Scheffler needed to be THE guy on the greens. He wasn’t able to surpass Clark, and finished three back, at seven under par.
As for Fowler, Sunday saw his approach and putting games disappear. Both had been strong all week, elevating him to a tie for first with Clark, through 54 holes. On Saturday, Clark ripped an iron into the 18th hole for a near tap-in birdie. Fowler had a power lip-out from four feet, and made bogey. The two-shot swing was a portent of Sunday’s conclusion. Fowler tallied 18 birdies over the first two days, more than enough to offset his bogey total. On the weekend, the birdie engine blew a gasket, falling to five over the final two days.
Nipped it ?
Big par save from @Wyndham_Clark at No. 11. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/ap1VRUERcP
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 19, 2023
What’s next?
What sort of US Open champion will Wyndham Clark be? Will he be a one-and-done major champion, or will he retire with one? Clark’s first PGA Tour title came earlier this year, in May in Charlotte. The Quail Hollow Club has hosted PGA Championships before, and stands as an austere test each spring. Pair that victory with a win at LA North, and we begin to see a pattern. Clark performs well on the sort of courses that make host appearances for half the major titles. Can he translate these performances to Augusta National, or to the links courses of the British Isles? It will be fun to watch.
Calm, cool and collected. #USOpen champion @Wyndham_Clark's unflappable final round is the @Lexus Top Performance of the Day. #LexusGolf pic.twitter.com/x5YGcIt0pf
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 19, 2023
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Tour Rundown: Surprise USWO winner | Sepp surges
I know it’s not the tour, and I know it’s a shell of its 1912 US Open self, but a 59 in a legitimate tournament is a thing. The Erie County (NY) Amateur was played at the course where I learned the game, and a collegiate named Ryan Edholm posted 59 on Sunday, to win by eight shots. I was glued to the feed, and jumped up when I saw them finalize the score.
To the tours! The USGA celebrated its Women’s Open championship at storied Pebble Beach Golf Links this week, and the USA was treated to prime-time golf viewing for a second consecutive, national championship. Neither the competitors nor the golf course disappointed, and it is a pleasure to provide an extended look at the tournament. The PGA Tour visited TPC Deere Run in Illinois, while the DP World Tour found a home in Denmark. Let’s have a look at how each event concluded, with this week’s Tour Rundown.
USGA/LPGA: Corpuz arrives from nowhere to claim United States Open title
If you hurry up and check Allisen Corpuz’s wiki page, you’ll see the one professional win on her record is the Hawaii Women’s State Open. Venerable an event as it is, it’s not an LPGA-calibre title, nor even a Symetra Tour win. Even more important, she won that event when she was all of 16 years of age, so she wasn’t even a pro! After schooling at Southern Cal and a stint on the 2021 USA Curtis Cup side, Corpuz turned pro, and earned two top-three finishes in her first two years on tour.
Forgive us for a moment if we talk about that other wain who won her first tour event in her first tour start. Yup, Rose Zhang was at Pebble Beach, but she only finished one-over par and only tied for 9th position. What did Corpuz do? She won the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel. Corpuz began the week 69-70 to not only make the cut, but earn herself a final-pair spot with Bailey Tardy on Saturday. While Tardy struggled to a 75, AC held it together and posted a fine 71. Her reward was a second-consecutive day in the final duo, this time with the on-fire Nasa Hataoka. Hataoka delivered a 66, the only score below 70 on the day. That’s one hot round.
Hataoka had been here before. She finished runner-up in two other major championships, and was eager to shelve the mantel of almost and replace it with certain. Sunday was not her day, however, and she struggled to five bogeys and a birdie, a 76, and a tie for fourth with the aforementioned Bailey Tardy. Tardy came back from her 75 with a 73, earning a top-five major placement.
Back to Corpuz. The lass from Honolulu made six birdies on the day. She began with stroke-savers on holes one and three, then made bogeys at four and nine, along with another birdie at seven. She turned in one-under 35, and began to put distance between herself and the field. Then came Charley Hull, and things began to change.
Hull found the same flint that Hataoka encountered on day three. The English pro made birdie at four of her first five holes, and turned in 32. Three birdies against one bogey on the inward half gave her a 66, the low round of the day. Her reward was a tie for second spot with another Sunday Queen, Jiyai Shin of Korea. Shin signed for 68 and reached the same, 6-under par total as Hull. No one, on this day, would track Allisen down.
Corpuz put the doubters to bed with three birdies over the first seven holes on the vaunted, back nine at Pebble Beach. A meaningless bogey at 17 meant that her margin of victory was reduced to three strokes. After safely walking the final fairway, Corpuz was an LPGA tour winner, a major champion and, in all likelihood, a member of Team USA in Spain’s 2023 Solheim Cup matches.
What pressure?
Allisen Corpuz is putting on a historic performance at Pebble Beach
Watch now on NBC! pic.twitter.com/6fzRYGPVYa
— LPGA (@LPGA) July 9, 2023
PGA Tour: Straka survives double bogey at last for second tour title
Josef Straka (no intel on how he earned the nickname “Sepp”) had golf social media ablaze this afternoon. He turned for home in 28 shots, and still had more in the tank. His front-nine eagle and five birdies were followed by four consecutive chirps from 11 to 14. Folks were talking 60, 59, 58. All that the boy from Austria had to do, was dock the boat. Well, he didn’t, finding water on 18 and a double bogey. He finished four days in Silvia at 21-under par, and didn’t think for a moment, that it would hold up.
Until it did. Neither Brendan Todd nor Alex Smalley could close with anything spicey, and Ludvig Aberg started too far back for his 63 to give him a shot. Todd and Smalley tied for second at 19-under par, with the precocious Aberg another stroke back, tied for 4th with Adam Schenk. It was Straka in the end, whose final-round 62 held up. Now, it’s off to Scotland for many, as preparations begin for the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
This man can not miss.@SeppStraka needs to shoot 1-under in his final four holes for a round below 60 @JDClassic. pic.twitter.com/5mYhLtu84e
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 9, 2023
DP World Tour: Second Chance for Højgaard in home country
Rasmus Højgaard did nothing right down the stretch of the Made in HimmerLand stop on the DPWT. He finished well ahead of the leaders, and began to applaud his home-country fans for their presence. Then, Nacho Elvira and Richie Ramsey forgot how to finish the tournament, and just like that, Højgaard found himself in a playoff with Elvira for the title. We’ll get to the playoff (all six holes of it) in a moment. How did we get there?
Højgaard had himself a weekend, to the tune of 65-64. For a time, he thought that his 129 over the final two days would earn him a top-three finish, until tires started falling off. Elvira played his final six holes in plus-one, with three bogeys against two birdies. Robert MacIntyre stood three-under on the day, when his tee shot on 14 nearly went OOB. Six shots later, he posted a triple bogey on his card, added another bogey, and missed overtime by two shots. For Richie Ramsay, the knife cut the deepest. He had quietly worked his way to the top spot, only to see all his day’s efforts undone with a watery double at the 72nd hole. He finished solo third.
So it was left to the astonished Højgaard and the Spanish Elvira, to settle matters on the 18th hole … and the 18th hole … and the 18th hole again. Six times they returned to the final teeing ground, and five times, each man made par. On the sixth go-round, Elvira cracked and Rasmus claimed his fourth DPWT title. Three have come in playoffs — Luke Donald, you paying attention?
Shots of the week from Made in HimmerLand ?#MIH23 | @DP_World pic.twitter.com/deVZZStyEI
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 9, 2023
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Morning 9: Co-leaders at USWO | Blixt fires 62 | DQ at Pebble
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Morning 9: Wie West’s last hurrah | Garcia fails to qualify for Open | Block clarifies Rory comments
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