Clark, who was ranked 293rd in the Official World Golf Ranking a year ago and had never finished better than a tie for 75th in a major championship, held off Rory McIlroy, world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler and Rickie Fowler in the final round to win the 123rd U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club.
Clark, from Denver, carded an even-par 70 on Sunday. His 10-under total of 270 was 1 stroke ahead of McIlroy, who failed to end a nearly nine-year major championship drought.
“I feel like I belong on this stage, and even two, three years ago when people didn’t know who I was, I felt like I could still play and compete against the best players in the world,” Clark said. “I felt like I’ve shown that this year.”
Clark opened up a 3-shot lead over McIlroy with four holes to play. Then Clark made back-to-back bogeys to trim it to 1. McIlroy could manage no better than par in his final five holes, leaving Clark to win it on his own.
On the par-4 18th hole, Clark hit his tee shot down the right side of the fairway. His second shot was short of the green, leaving him 59 feet, 9 inches to the hole. With a gallery of hundreds of fans gathering on the fairway behind him, he calmly two-putted for the victory. He buried his head in his hands and hugged his caddie, John Ellis.
Source: ESPN