Parting US Open Thoughts
You Wynd Some and You Lose Some
Wyndham Clark
Wyndham Clark has been one of the most interesting stories in golf over the last few years. He essentially went from being a PGA Tour journeyman making money off the backs of players like Rory, Tiger, and Phil to becoming one of the most hated and ridiculed American golfers I’ve seen.
Tiger Woods had his vices and wasn’t always the most well-liked player, but there was never a point in his career when American fans on American soil were booing Tiger. Wyndham Clark exists in a class of his own when it comes to fan hatred. The problem is that most of it has been self-inflicted over the last few years. He has smashed tee markers, damaged a locker room, and said things like “opening some grape” instead of simply saying wine.
After Wyndham won the U.S. Open at LACC a few years ago, I pegged him as one of those players we’d eventually look back on like Ben Curtis—a guy who had one magical week and never really accomplished anything else of note. In 2025, it looked like that prediction might come true when he fell to nearly 100th in the OWGR.
Since then, however, he has rattled off one strong finish after another, including wins at the Byron Nelson (which I was fortunate enough to watch in person) and the U.S. Open. Those victories have moved him up to eighth in the OWGR. That essentially locks him into this year’s Presidents Cup team and next year’s Ryder Cup team in Europe.
Ironically, Wyndham might be one of the best players suited to handle the adversity of an away Ryder Cup. If he can gel with the team, he could end up being a real asset.
Congrats to Wyndham. We hate to see you win, but we have to respect the game.
USGA / Shinnecock
Overall, the USGA caught some flak this week for the U.S. Open setup and for slowing the greens because of the forecasted winds early in the week.
I’ll defend the USGA here because they did what they needed to do to make sure the tournament didn’t get out of hand. If they had “lost the golf course” (shoutout to Zach Johnson) there would have been an uprising from the players and the media. The backlash would have been much worse than what they received for taking a more conservative approach. Having to suspend play because the course became unplayable would have been a far bigger story. The USGA was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I think they navigated a difficult situation as well as they could have.
Shinnecock is a great major championship venue, but I think it’s the weakest of the elite major venues, if that makes sense. It tests every part of a player’s game and, under the right conditions, can play tougher than any course in major championship golf.
My quick power rankings are:
Oakmont
Pinehurst #2
Shinnecock
Long Island Golf
There’s been a lot of discussion about whether Long Island fans deserve another major championship or Ryder Cup after last fall’s Ryder Cup and now this U.S. Open. There have been multiple videos of fans yelling “Get in the bunker!” and, of course, the viral moment when Rory snapped back at one of the beefier boys in the crowd. I don’t want to go as far as saying we shouldn’t hold major championships in the Northeast, but I do think there’s a better way to manage and control the crowds. I wrote about this very topic after the Ryder Cup at Bethpage last year.
Quick Thoughts
Will Sam Burns ever win a truly big event? It feels like he just can’t close. Maybe it’s one of those situations where, once he breaks through, the floodgates open because he certainly has the talent.
This was the first major championship I’ve experienced with Sky Sports coverage in the UK. NBC’s coverage is as bad as it gets.
Golf in Scotland has been an eye-opening experience for me so far. It honestly makes me sick to think about how much we pay to play golf in the States. More on that later.