American Wyndham Clark emerged victorious at the US Open as he claimed his maiden major victory after a thrilling one-stroke triumph over Rory McIlroy at Los Angeles Country Club. The 29-year-old dedicated his win to his late mother, Lise, who died in 2013 at age 54 due to cancer. She had taught him the mantra of “play big”, which Clark had held close to his heart.
[PHOTOS: Getty Images]
I just felt like my mum was watching over me during the final round. She can’t be here, and I miss her. I know she’d be proud of me. She’s always been proud of me, regardless of how I’m doing or what I’m doing. I just wish she could be here and we could enjoy this together. It was a pretty amazing week because my mum lived in Los Angeles for a few years and I’ve had some people come up to me and show pictures of my mum when they knew her back in her 20s and early 30s when she was living here. That just happened this week, so it was kind of a special vibe all week being here in LA. My parents got married at Riviera Country Club, and I have some roots in this area. All I really wish is that my mum could be here and I could just hug her and we could celebrate together.
My mum was just so positive and such a motivator in what she did. She’d be crying tears of joy now. She called me “Winner” when I was little, and she would just say, “I love you, Winner.” She had that mantra of play big and I was really a mama’s boy. There would be a lot of hugging and crying together. It’s obviously great to think about her, and being here in LA and winning something like this makes me think of her even more.
I feel I’ve worked so hard and I’ve dreamed about this moment for so long. There’s been so many times I’ve visualised being here and winning this championship, the US Open, and I just feel like it was my time. This is now my second win on the PGA Tour, the first one was surreal and this one is also surreal. It hasn’t quite hit me yet but I can tell you that walking up the 18th hole was pretty emotional, and then finishing up with the short putt to win the tournament. The past five or six weeks have been a whirlwind and I just feel so blessed and humbled to be here right now.
Winning the Wells Fargo Championship last month was huge because I had people telling me, “Hey, what if something greater is going to happen, and what if you losing means something better is going to happen and you learn from it?” I think that was one of the first times that I said, “OK, I believe that.” I honestly think I should have won the Memorial Tournament a few weeks ago too. Viktor Hovland played great, but I was right there in contention and fumbled at the end. But in the back of my mind, I said, “What if this is saving me for something greater?” Obviously I didn’t know it was going to be a US Open, but I just had that attitude and belief that something better was going to happen. And it did.
I feel like I belong on this stage. Even two or 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. I felt like I’ve shown that this year. I’ve come up close, and obviously everyone sees the person that hoists the trophy, but I’ve been trending in the right direction for a long time now. I’ve made a lot of cuts, I’ve had a handful of top 10s and top 20s, and I feel I’ve been on a great trajectory to get to this place.
Obviously, it’s gone faster than I thought as far as just starting to do some stuff mentally that I’ve never done before, but I feel I’m one of the best players in the world. Obviously this just shows what I believe can happen. But at the same time, I’m a pretty humble, calm guy and I don’t try to get too high or too low on things. I’m obviously going to celebrate this, but I like to compete. I’m so competitive. I want to beat everybody but also be friends with everybody.
Heading into the final round, I think Rickie [Fowler, the third round co-leader] had most of the pressure being a California boy and everyone wanted him to win probably more than anyone else. Obviously, I put my own pressure on myself but I guess it’s nice being the underdog.
I’m also glad my caddie and agent had told me last November that they’ve got this lady, a mental coach by the name of Julie Elion, that I should work with. I was a little reluctant to do it initially, and I’m just so glad she was brought into my life. It’s crazy to see how much I’ve improved and how much she’s helped me. I wouldn’t have thought I’d be a major champion six or seven months ago.
At the range, Julie and I were talking about anything but golf, actually. We were talking about travelling. We were talking about the beautiful homes out here. She was just trying to keep it light. It’s huge in a major championship because you can kind of get really tunnel vision, and it’s great to sometimes just look up and see what’s going on and be like, Hey, this is just like any other day and I’ve done this a thousand times. Julie has a great calmness and presence about her that just makes me calm and relaxed.
It was great walking by and hearing a lot of people chant Rickie’s name because it kind of fuelled the fire underneath me that I could do it. Julie told me, every time you hear someone chant “Rickie”, think of your goals and get cocky and go show them who you are. And I did that. It was like 100-plus times during the final round I reminded myself of the goals. Now maybe they’ll be chanting my name in the future.
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