Everything was in place for a historic collapse by Wyndham Clark, and based on the jeers and taunts that followed him throughout the final round of the U.S. Open, the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club fans would\u2019ve been OK with that. Everything was in place for an equally historic comeback by Sam Burns, too, and with Clark the villain, Burns emerged as the unlikely hero.<\/p>\n
Burns\u2019 putt on the 18th hole rolled right up to the edge of the pin. When it didn\u2019t go in, he fell to his knees and flipped his putter, the reality of heartbreak for a second consecutive year at the U.S. Open starting to sink in. Clark soon made a 24-foot birdie putt on No. 16 and unleashed a powerful fist pump as his lead grew.<\/p>\n
Wyndham Clark of the United States celebrates after a putt on the 16th green during the final round of the 126th U.S. OPEN at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 21, 2026 in Southampton, New York. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Entering Sunday with a six-shot lead, Clark \u2014 whose locker-bashing incident at Oakmont last year turned him into a villain \u2014 did just enough to finish 4 under par and defeat Burns by a shot for his second U.S. Open win in the past four years.<\/p>\n
Clark, who was 3 over Sunday, became the first wire-to-wire winner of the major since Martin Kaymer in 2014. He avoided an epic collapse, like the one by Greg Norman in the 1996 Masters \u2014 still the only golfer to lose a major when leading by six or more shots entering the final round, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. And if Burns, who entered Sunday at even par, completed the seven-shot comeback, it would\u2019ve tied Arnold Palmer \u2014 who was in 15th place entering the final round in 1960 \u2014 for the largest comeback after 54 holes in tournament history. Instead, the celebration belonged to Clark.<\/p>\n
The jeers had followed him wherever he went. \u201cGet in the bunker\u201d shouts came after tee shots. There were \u201cdon\u2019t choke\u201d jabs that got fans ejected<\/a>. If Clark thought the Shinnecock crowd was \u201cflat\u201d <\/a>after his third round, then this was the polar opposite.<\/p>\n Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, clung to the momentum from a blistering opening round as long as he possibly could. He was 3 over on the front nine Sunday, but it could\u2019ve been worse if he didn\u2019t save par on the fourth hole. Clark\u2019s second shot bounced twice on the walkway, and after he sank the putt, he pumped his fist.<\/p>\n Sam Burns reacts after missing a putt on the 18th hole during the final round of the 126th U.S. Open Golf Championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, NY, on Sunday, June 21, 2026. John Angelillo\/UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Wyndham Clark of the United States celebrates with the U.S. Open Championship Trophy after winning the 126th U.S. OPEN at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 21, 2026 in Southampton, New York. Getty Images<\/p>\n He added a stroke to his lead with a birdie on No. 10 but lost it with a bogey on No. 13, and by that point, Burns had started to make a run. Entering the final round, Scottie Scheffler had been positioned as the chaser, as the one who finally seemed to have solved Shinnecock on the back nine Saturday and \u2014 in his push to finish the career Grand Slam on his birthday and Father\u2019s Day \u2014 upend Clark. But Scheffler failed to capitalize on his chances, instead settling for pars and hoping they wouldn\u2019t turn into worse.<\/p>\n So that left Burns, the 29-year-old with three top 10 finishes at majors, to serve as the hero in the eyes of the Shinnecock fans. He sank four birdies on the front nine, but after bogeying the ninth, Burns only managed one birdie the rest of the round, left a putt short on the 17th and watched as his ball, somehow, didn\u2019t end up in the cup on the final hole.<\/p>\n Wyndham Clark celebrates with his caddie David Pelekoudas after winning the U.S. Open golf tournament at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. AP Photo\/Seth Wenig<\/p>\n Burns, the 54-hole leader last year who fell all the way to a tie for seventh during the final round, was forced to wait by the range as Clark birdied the 16th, bogeyed the 17th and then two-putted for par on the 18th. For better or worse \u2014 and, on two occasions, most recently Sunday at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, in the best way possible for him \u2014 Clark has become synonymous with the only major he has ever won. There was the 2023 title. There was the villainous turn.<\/p>\n And here in eastern Long Island, on a weeklong redemption tour that may or may not resonate in the court of public opinion, Clark emerged on top again. This became Clark\u2019s tournament to lose from the moment he fired his 64 on Thursday. He did just enough to survive three days later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everything was in place for a historic collapse by Wyndham Clark, and based on the jeers and taunts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,427,3,25858,301650,99,21,19,22,20,25,23234,24,14190],"class_list":["post-718199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-golf","tag-news","tag-sam-burns","tag-shinnecock-hills","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-open-golf","tag-usa","tag-wyndham-clark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}