Wyndham Clark wins the US Open by one shot as Rory McIlroy falls short

Wyndham Clark wins his first ever major as the American sees off the challenge of Rory McIlroy to clinch the US Open – and $3.6million – by just one shot at LA Country Club

• Wyndham Clark had never finished higher than 75th in a major before Sunday
• Rory McIlroy’s nine-year major drought goes on as he missed out by one shot 
• DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news 

A fine tale played out at the US Open on Sunday, but as with so many others in the past nine years it did not belong to Rory McIlroy. For golf’s bruised crusader, only more scar tissue. For Wyndham Clark, the trophy.

And what a magnificent victory it was, secured against odds of 125-1 and all sensible expectations of a man who had never finished higher than 75th in a major.

He had his wobbles, not least on the stretch with two bogeys in the final three holes, but these gigs are meant to be hard and this golden nugget of Denver got it done the hard way. The final margin? A single stroke. The means? Resilience and graft and the ability to run from the front all day long and stay a fraction ahead of the big beast behind him.

Which takes us to McIlroy. And back to a familiar discussion of when his long wait for a fifth major will end and why, when those doors open, he finds himself unable to take the step.

American Wyndham Clark poses with the US Open trophy after winning his first ever major

Clark kisses his girlfriend Julia Kemming following his big success at Los Angeles Country Club

Clark was overcome with emotion after winning the US Open by one shot on Sunday evening

Rory McIlroy’s nine-year wait for another major goes on after coming so close to glory Sunday

This one will sting because it was there for him. Doubly so because it had the ring of so many other near-misses, most obviously that one at St Andrews in The Open last summer. 

Then as now he did not find the necessary level on the final Sunday, but the difference is he was not beaten here by a blazing hot surge, as he was by Cameron Smith’s 64 in Scotland.

No. This was not that. Clark was able to win with an even-par 70, keeping him at 10 under for the week, and within it was scope for McIlroy to push. To chase. To force the issue and ask the questions that might spread wildfires of doubt in a 29-year-old who had contested six previous majors and missed the cut in four.

But it didn’t happen for McIlroy, which is a great shame, because he is one of sport’s good guys and one of golf’s finest in this era. He could only card a closing loop of 70 and its story is best told by the 12 straight pars that followed his opening birdie – it was a flat line. The numbers were flat. He was flat.

In truth, he simply never got going. His driving was decent, 15 of 18 greens were hit in regulation, and his only blip came through some freaky events and a fortuitous ruling at 14, when he took bogey from a far more precarious scenario.

And yet there were no highs. No approaches went especially close to the pin and no putts made beyond those you would expect. Again, a flat line, which is why he appeared drained by a week that will ultimately rank as a great success, even if it did end with the sort of ‘gut punch’ he referred to earlier in the week.

But one man’s setback is another man’s glory. Clark has spoken this week of playing in his mother’s memory after her passing 10 years ago. She told him to ‘play big’ shortly before her death from cancer aged 55, and he has done so this week quite magnificently. When he holed the final putt from a foot at 18, he looked to the sky and was quickly overcome by tears.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have ranked an almighty shock – he won on the PGA Tour five weeks ago and shot 64-67-69 through 54 holes. 

When Clark holed the final putt from a foot at 18, he looked to the sky and became emotional

Clark had spoken this week of playing in his mother’s memory after her passing 10 years ago

Clark celebrates with his caddie John Ellis after securing his win on the 18th green

He played like a giant, and on Sunday that meant eclipsing not only McIlroy, but also his partner in the final pairing, Rickie Fowler. 

He too was chasing something great after the tribulations of recent years, so it was deflating that he fell away so badly with a closing 75. He finished in a tie for fifth – a cluster that included England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who carded a superb 63.

In third was Scottie Scheffler, who like McIlroy was oddly non-responsive with a 70, so stayed at seven under. In sole possession of fourth was Cameron Smith, carried to six under with a 67.

In the context of those numbers, McIlroy will doubtless spend time agonising how he couldn’t finish the job. His golf throughout the week has been superb, possibly assisted by his outright refusal to offer any more words about his sport’s civil war and unlikely merger.

Certainly he started this last lap of LA Country Club in the perfect fashion. As with each of the three previous rounds, McIlroy launched a rocket down that opening fairway, chalking off 379 yards from a par-five measuring close to 600. Once again, for the fourth day in a row he left with a birdie.

He was up and moving but the speed soon slowed to a jog – eight straight pars would follow and they quickly had the ring risk of missed opportunities. 

His play from the tee to that midway point had been sharp, and all bar the fifth green had been hit in regulation, but the approaches were too often leaving him with mid-range putts and tougher. When he did have chances, with a 12-footer at three and more glaringly from four at the par-five eighth, they did not drop.

American Rickie Fowler shot 75 and faded to a tie for fifth on the final day of the tournament

He wasn’t playing badly, not at all, but nor was he capitalising on the course. Its potential was outlined earlier in the day by Fleetwood, who ticked off the front nine in 30, but even adjusting for tougher afternoon conditions, McIlroy was unable to make a surge.

It was perhaps best demonstrated at the driveable sixth, which had been handing out birdies like little red gifts, but McIlroy took on the green, missed, and had to scratch away for a par to stay at 10 under. The missed putt shortly thereafter at eight would have hurt even more.

With nine holes to play, having turned in 34, the valuable upside is that stability can be good. Stability is treading water and treading water is better than sinking. Stability meant he was only one behind Clark, who at 11-under-par had taken a far more scenic route to the same first-half score of 34, with three birdies, two pars and some superb acts of damage limitation when he dropped only a single shot when buried deep in scrubland at eight.

But the rest of them? They had allowed it to shape into a two-horse race. Could Clark make it to home with that one-shot lead? Could McIlroy respond?

By the time he stepped on the par-five 14th he had racked up 12 consecutive pars, and 18 if you count the closing stretch on Saturday, so he needed to break the streak. He needed to join Clark at the top and see if that might shake something loose.

Clark celebrates his huge victory, which saw him win $3.6million, with his brother Brendan

What followed was the most dramatic moment of the round and ultimately McIlroy’s demise. 

Having driven into the rough and then laid up, McIlroy’s third disappeared into the bunker. It was gone from sight and after a search it was found not in the sand but in the soil structure in the trap’s face. What would that mean? An official was called over and in a case of immense good fortune, he was permitted a free drop from the greenside rough owing to rules around embedded balls. He left with a bogey when it might have been far worse.

The pain was compounded a moment later when Clark walked off the same hole following a tap-in birdie. From one shot down to three, McIlroy needed to go on the attack and Clark needed to collapse.

McIlroy hadn’t done much wrong – he just hadn’t done enough right as he came ever so close

Briefly there was a chance – Clark missed the green at the short par three at 15 and for once he couldn’t scramble himself safe.

Then the chance grew – Clark also bogeyed the 16th by missing a six-foot putt to cut his lead to one. 

McIlroy was alive but not by much, having played 16 and 17 poorly from the tee and escaping each time with par. It was imperative that he applied pressure at the last but he couldn’t. It was another wide approach and another two putt for the umpteenth time.

He hadn’t done much wrong – he just hadn’t done enough right. A few moments later, Clark rolled in a little putt, and with it he won $3.6million, added his name to a trophy, and left another scar on someone else.

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