“
I THINK HIS PLAY IS REMINDING US OF HOW GREAT HE IS, AND GIVING US A GLIMPSE OF WHAT HE CAN STILL BECOME. HE’S AN AMAZING PLAYER AND AN INCREDIBLE PERSON
--Pat Coyner
WYNDHAM CLARK SWING COACH + DIRECTOR OF INSTRUCTION AT CHERRY
HILLS COUNTRY CLUB
LEADING
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/CHRIS KEANE
A CHAMPIONSHIP TO REMEMBER
Some championships are won. Others are remembered. The 126th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills delivered four unforgettable days of drama, resilience and world-class golf, culminating in a performance that secured Wyndham Clark’s place among the game’s elite. From a wire-towire victory to a defining birdie on the 16th hole and a second U.S. Open trophy, Clark authored a championship worthy of golf’s grandest stage.
This special commemorative edition celebrates the moments, people and performances that shaped an unforgettable week on Long Island. Through stunning imagery and storytelling, we revisit the shots, emotions and milestones that defined one of the most memorable championships in recent U.S. Open history.
All photographs featured in this special edition were sourced through the USGA Content Hub and are used with appreciation to the USGA and its contributing photographers // Cover Photo Credit: USGA/Logan Whitton
WYNDHAM CLARK WINS 2ND US OPEN
PHOTO
A CHAMPION AGAIN
FOR WYNDHAM CLARK, SHINNECOCK HILLS WASN’T JUST ABOUT ANOTHER TROPHY, IT WAS ABOUT VALIDATION AND TURNING PERSEVERANCE INTO REDEMPTION,
CAPTURING A SECOND U.S. OPEN TITLE // BY JIM BEBBINGTON
The headlines say it all.
“On Wyndham Clark’s antihero win at Shinnecock”
“U.S. Open’s Villain Wins”
“Wyndham Clark’s U.S. Open fan abuse was so bad, his psychologist took cover”
When it was over - after he had battled the wind and undulating turf, after he had performed near wizardry on devilish greens that had been dialed-up to top speed, after he had bested a murderer’s row of competitors, Wyndham Clark talked first about the unique adversary he and he alone had faced - the crowd.
“I hope I don’t become the heel of the PGA,” he said. Clark’s win at the 126th U.S. Open this past weekend brought a harsh spotlight to the new reality for PGA Tour players. The visibility of the game and the prevalence of social media mean that voices that previously went largely unheard now ring out loud
and clear - sometimes from the crowds themselves during Sunday final rounds.
And for complicated reasons, many of those voices have coalesced around one topic: not rooting for Wyndham Clark.
Golf social media is full of griping about nearly any player who becomes wellknown. It comes with the territory. But for years any post about Wyndham could reliably be expected to have some comments about how people just don’t like him. Anti-Wyndham Twitter nearly exploded in April when in the run-up to the Masters Clark joined the broadcast booth and joked that playing in the par 3 competition with children rolling all over the course was a great birth-control device, something against the grain of the day of family positivity. Last year the wheels came off for Clark’s public image - ironically - during the U.S. Open. He played poorly, missed the cut, and kicked in his locker door on
his way out. He has apologized repeatedly for the tantrum, but said he understands how some fans turned on him then and have refused to turn back.
“I mean, after what happened at Oakmont was obviously the lowest point,” he said Sunday. “People probably didn’t see what happened after, but you know, it was a really tough two, three days for me. I was in a dark place, didn’t really go outside much. It was a really negative, dark place.
“Yeah, I mean, at that moment I just felt a lot of my career, world ranking, reputation, everything just dwindling. That’s a terrible feeling.
“I would say in that moment I definitely didn’t think I’d be here this year doing this, but with that being said, I did a lot of work in the offseason on my golf swing, on the things I needed to do. I would say as this year, I started hitting it better and started seeing the results, then I started gaining my confidence.”
Sunday’s broadcast was filled with clear cheers when Clark’s ball would roll past a pin and slip down the back of one of Shinnecock’s towering greens. One fan was thrown out after he yelled ‘Don’t Choke Wyndham’ as Clark prepared to hit. The cheers for bad shots and silence for his good shots followed him all day.
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/LOGAN WHITTON
PHOTO
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/CHRIS KEANE
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/LOGAN WHITTON
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/CHRIS KEANE
People in the crowd seemed to have an ABW attitude - Anyone But Wyndham. First they backed Scottie Scheffler, who was going for his career grand slam if he had won. Then they shifted to Sam Burns - a player who honestly few average golf fans could have picked out of a lineup prior to Sunday - because his hot putter put him on Clark’s heels.
But in the end Clark sank just enough putts to win his second major of his career. “Man, they definitely didn’t want me to win,” he said. “It’s pretty rare in an Open Championship or a major to have fans kind of boo against your shots or cheer for bad shots. “I mean, that was tough, but I also like – sometimes being the underdog is nice. I was in ‘23, and I kind of did the same thing. Anytime someone said something negative to me, I replaced it with something positive. You know, some of it’s self-deserved. I kind of brought it on myself, but I also get it, too. Scottie was going for the career Grand Slam, and it hasn’t happened very often.
“It was tough, but I’m proud of myself that I battled through. Things really could have gotten away from me. I stood tough. I would have liked to have won by more, but as long as you win, it doesn’t matter.”
What Clark accomplished this past weekend is he stepped out of the herd of ‘really good players’ and into the echelon of the greats. There are many good players who have won one major. Lightning can
strike almost any of them - they are all that good. But lightning does not strike twice. It takes genuine, superior talent combined with elite preparation, a little luck, and chutzpa. Only 90 men since the late 1800s have won two majors or more. Another 145 have won just one. John Daly was an interesting, slightly kooky, longhaired big-hitter when he won his PGA Championship. When he added an Open Championship, he became a champion.
Modest men do not win multiple majors. They have to be competitive to an almost-unhealthy level. It helps to be a little delusional. Several have said it’s not a bad thing to be a little stupid - you don’t dwell on bad shots because you can’t remember them anyway. Colorado’s Hale Irwin - winner of three U.S. Opens - was so competitive that in one playoff when his opponent hit from deep rough a magnificent shot to the green Irwin pounded the fairway grass with his own club out of frustration.
Clark’s relationship with the wider golf audience went from zero to 80 MPH basically overnight. Clark grew up around Denver as one of the region’s elite athletes - golf or otherwise. When he focused on golf, he dominated - winning high school 5A titles in 2009 and 2011. At the age of 16 he won the Colorado Golf Association Stroke Play Championship, becoming the youngest winner since 1971. Then he began his college golf career, first at Oklahoma State University, and later at the
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/KATHRYN RILEY
University of Oregon. His redshirt year at Oklahoma State University he won three times, was named First Team All-American and helped his team to a runner-up finish at the NCAA championships.
But the switch between schools came in part because it was in those years that his mother, Lise, died of breast cancer. She had been the one who had introduced him to the game - taking him to a driving range out of maternal desperation to get her young son to burn energy. She left him supportive, positive notes in his golf bag or lunch. He has said that his final days at OSU were a blur of anger, grief, thrown clubs during competitions and frustration that grew so deep he almost quit the game entirely. His first few years on the PGA Tour were filled with missed cuts almost more often than he finished in the money. His basic game was still there - he earned two top 10s in his first season, but then didn’t make it back there for three seasons. He was in the phase of learning how to win, and if he was known for anything it was for quirky Instagram posts he did each week from taco food trucks he would seek out wherever he played.
Professional golf is so weird - in this era he would have to be considered as struggling, but he never earned less than $850,000 a season. The foundation was there. Then came 2023 - three wins in quick succession, including the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, and winnings surpassing $10 million.
Sunday’s win came to Clark after he said he put a new team around him. He began working with Pat Conyer, the director of instruction at Cherry Hills Country Club, this past winter on his swing. He switched caddies, moving away from friend John Ellis to Dave Pelekoudas. He has continued to receive sports counseling from Julie Elion - whom he started working with in 2022 just before his career turned around. He said the entire experience after his Oakmont blowup was where the tide finally turned.
“Man, I’m not getting angry as much as I used to,” he said. “I think I get frustrated. My anger has kind of gone away, which is a huge blessing. I’d say the frustration is kind of obviously there. Anyone gets it in golf.”
For PGA Tour promoters and backers, Clark’s situation is being discussed not as a problem to be solved, but as an opportunity. Several commentators have noted that it is rare that any PGA Tour player generates any emotional response among fans at all. Most of the players are mild-mannered in public, and succeeding at tournament golf almost always requires players to stay emotionally level and neutral.
So, to have a player that makes fans feel something - anything - is not seen as necessarily a bad thing.
Which is easy to say so long as you’re not Wyndham Clark.
I WOULD SAY IN THAT MOMENT I DEFINITELY DIDN’T THINK I’D BE HERE THIS YEAR DOING THIS, BUT WITH THAT BEING SAID, I DID A LOT OF WORK IN THE OFFSEASON ON MY GOLF SWING, ON THE THINGS I NEEDED TO DO. I WOULD SAY AS THIS YEAR, I STARTED HITTING IT BETTER AND STARTED SEE ING THE RESULTS, THEN I START ED GAINING MY CONFIDENCE.
THE WINNING MOMENT
Championships are often remembered by a single swing, a single putt or a single moment when everything changes. For Wyndham Clark, that moment arrived on the Par-5 16th hole Sunday at Shinnecock Hills. With challengers closing, pressure mounting and a second U.S. Open title hanging in the balance, Clark faced the tournament’s defining test. With the pressure at its peak, Clark delivered the sequence that would define the week: a series of confident swings culminating in a clutch birdie on the tournament’s final scoring opportunity. It was equal parts courage and execution, and it ultimately became the moment that secured his place among the game’s major champions once again.
PHOTO
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/JEFF HAYNES
1. TROUBLE OFF THE TEE
AN UNEXPECTED TEST
With his lead shrinking and the championship hanging in the balance, Wyndham Clark arrived at Shinnecock’s 16th Hole knowing this wasn’t a hole to survive, it was one to seize. His drive found the rough, leaving Clark with an uncomfortable lie and a difficult decision. With the championship hanging in the balance, the safe play was available. But safe wasn’t going to win a U.S. Open.
2. THE SHOT
From the rough, Clark stood over a shot that had the potential to define the championship. The safe option was there, but major championships are rarely won by playing it safe. With thousands watching and the pressure mounting with every step toward the finish, Clark chose conviction over caution. His swing sent the ball exploding from the tangled grass and climbing above the Shinnecock landscape before carrying toward its target. In an instant, anxiety gave way to opportunity. What could have been a moment of vulnerability became a moment of control, setting the stage for the birdie that ultimately helped secure the U.S. Open trophy.
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/LOGAN WHITTON
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/JOHN MUMMERT
3. THE WALK
Before the ball even came to rest, Clark could sense the momentum shifting. The pressure that had built throughout the afternoon—the expectations, the leaderboard watching, the pursuit from those behind him—began to loosen its grip.
As he walked toward the green, there was a visible change in his demeanor. The determined focus remained, but the tension was gone. For the first time in several holes, Clark looked less like a player trying to protect a lead and more like a champion closing in on a trophy. The walk wasn’t a celebration, but it was the moment belief started to outweigh doubt.
THE LOOK OF A CHAMPION
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/JEFF HAYNES
4. THE RELEASE
A CHAMPIONSHIP SECURED
The reaction was immediate and unmistakable. A fist pump. A roar. A surge of emotion that had been building for hours finally came pouring out. Clark had spent the afternoon navigating the relentless pressure that only a U.S. Open Sunday can create, knowing that every shot carried the weight of a championship. Now, after turning a difficult lie in the rough into a pivotal birdie opportunity and capitalizing when it mattered most, the tension gave way to exhilaration. The celebration was more than excitement—it was acknowledgment of the moment and the magnitude of what he had just accomplished. In a championship filled with memorable swings and dramatic turns, the birdie at No. 16 became the defining sequence, a recovery born from pressure, conviction and world-class execution. the moment belief became reality, and the moment Wyndham Clark moved within reach of a second U.S. Open title.
ELITE COMPANY
With his victory at the 126th U.S. Open, Clark became just the 25th player to win multiple U.S. Open championships. Only six golfers in history have won the championship three or more times: Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus (4), along with Hale Irwin and Tiger Woods (3). Clark now joins a distinguished list of two-time champions that includes Lee Trevino, Curtis Strange, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
4 TITLES
Willie Anderson
Bobby Jones
Ben Hogan
Jack Nicklaus
3 TITLES
Hale Irwin
Tiger Woods
2 TITLES
Alex Smith
Gene Sarazen
Cary Middlecoff
Lee Trevino
Andy North
Curtis Strange
Ernie Els
Retief Goosen
Brooks Koepka
Bryson DeChambeau
Wyndham Clark
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/KATHRYN RILEY
Wyndham Clark didn’t just win the 126th U.S. Open, he led it from start to finish. With his victory at Shinnecock Hills, Clark became just the ninth player in championship history to record a wire-to-wire U.S. Open victory, joining one of the tournament’s rarest groups. It marked the first wire-to-wire triumph since Martin Kaymer’s dominant performance at Pinehurst in 2014 and further cemented Clark’s place in U.S. Open history. For four days, no one stood above him on the leaderboard. When the final putt dropped on Sunday evening, Clark had turned a firstround lead into a second U.S. Open title.
A STEADY PRESENCE
Every major champion has a support system behind the scenes, and throughout Wyndham Clark’s remarkable 2026 season, Emily Tanner has become a visible part of that circle. The couple made their relationship public during Masters week, where Tanner served as Clark’s caddie during the traditional Par 3 Contest and was affectionately described by Clark as his “good luck charm.”
Since then, she has been a familiar face following his journey, celebrating victories and supporting him through the pressures of life on golf’s biggest stages. When Clark captured his second U.S. Open title at Shinnecock Hills, Tanner was there waiting beside the 18th green—one of the first people to embrace the champion as another unforgettable chapter was written.
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/KATHRYN RILEY
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/DUSTIN SATLOFF
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/LOGAN WHITTON
PHOTO CREDIT: USGA/LOGAN WHITTON
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