Wyndham Clark goes wire-to-wire at Shinnecock to win second US Open
Photo Credit: Warren Little/Getty Images
That was a fun but exhausting week of online discourse. A common theme that Major Championship weeks bring along with them, especially the US Open.
From the USGA slowing and softening the greens for Thursday and Friday due to the high winds, to NBC’s piss-poor effort of a golf broadcast, to having the biggest villain on Tour, Wyndham Clark, storming the field through three rounds, which was met with plenty of resentment, locker room talk, and far too many mentions and interviews with his sports psychologist and mental coach.
It’s clear the US Open generates discussion like no other Major does, and any little imperfection the general public has with the USGA or people involved will be ridiculed to no avail.
Below are a few of my main takeaways and talking points from the 2026 US Open.
Tip of the Cap to Wyndham Clark
He’s far from anyone’s favorite US Open winner, and for fair reason, but it’s hard to say he didn’t earn it, especially with the plethora of noise from the crowd today, who made it quite clear who they were cheering for. It’s very rare we see crowds openly cheering when someone’s ball slowly rolls off the green and into bunkers, especially when that someone is the leader of the US Open, who is also American, but that’s exactly what Wyndham dealt with all day.
He didn’t have his best stuff over the weekend, and it looked ugly at times, but he continuously found ways to get his ball in the hole, often for par and at worst bogey. There were some gutsy-ass saves.
And sure, you can say it seemed like he was getting some lucky breaks, but that’s golf. It happens. He wasn’t the first, and he won’t be the last, to have luck on his side more times than not.
I’m not sure many people would have pegged Wyndham Clark to win another major after LACC, especially considering where his play had trended in 2025, but he did it. He now has as many Majors as Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, and Bryson DeChambeau.
He proved he wasn’t one of those one-time fluke Major winners, and his moment with his dad on the after-green was pretty sweet.
NBC Broadcast Struggled
I wasn’t expecting the NBC broadcast to be good this week, and they delivered on what I expected, which was a commercial-heavy, dull product.
I made a few tweets over the weekend about my frustrations with NBC, which I’ve included below.
I specifically lost it on Saturday when, while they already weren’t showing the majority of players’ shots, they did a live on-course interview with Clark’s mental coach. It felt like it lasted an eternity, and then again today on hole 3, they did a FaceTime interview with his swing coach right when the tournament was actually starting to become tight. Just unnecessary and bizarre decisions in my opinion.
Also, the NBC main broadcast just has too many voices, and they all offer the same personality and insight: bland and boring. I think it would do their product wonders if they trimmed it down to just Dan Hicks and a lead analyst. Someone new though, because Kisner doesn’t quite hit the nail on the head for me in the booth.
I will say, what they do have going for them is their on-course reporters. Bones, Smylie, John Wood, and Paige Mackenzie are fantastic, and they should be utilized way more during play. All of them offer by far the best knowledge, and more than half the time it feels like they are being drowned out by all 4 to 5 guys in the booth.
It’s Coming for Sam Burns
The multi-time PGA Tour winner still hasn’t won a stroke-play event since 2022, which is both surprising and maybe concerning, but what he has done in the meantime is completely flip the script on his Major Championship performances.
The narrative used to be how Burns shriveled up and wasn’t able to elevate his game during Major Championship weeks like multiple-time Tour winners are expected to do, but since 2024 that has changed, especially at the US Open. He now has three straight top-10 finishes, with almost winning the last two. In another timeline, there’s a good chance Sam Burns just became the first person to defend his US Open title since Brooks Koepka.
It seems like it will happen if he continues to put himself in position like he is, but as we know, winning is hard. Maybe he’s missed his window, but I don’t think that’s the case.
Lots of Disappointing weekends from Stars
Come Saturday, even though Clark led by four shots, there was a ton of star power in the mix, and I expected some of them to make a run at Clark. This list included Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, and Scottie Scheffler. Of these guys, Scottie was the only one who really materialized a bit of a push, but for the most part, it was a rather disappointing weekend showing from some of the game’s best.
Specifically, Xander, who just slowly wilted away from another US Open. He continued his streak of finishing in the top 15 in every US Open start of his career, but it was the same old story of pre-major Xander and 2026 Xander: position yourself well and then slowly fade out of the picture.
Fitzy also had a super disappointing weekend, and especially with the form and results he’s had this year, it will be a shame if he doesn’t contend on Sunday once at a Major this year. He has one remaining chance.
USGA Set-up was solid
I won’t dive too deep into this as it has been discussed far too much at this point, but I think the USGA did a really solid job this week. I know people were frustrated about the softer conditions Thursday and Friday and that it never came close to crossing the line, but with what the wind presented, I thoroughly enjoyed Shinnecock and thought the USGA, even though they erred on the side of caution, let it shine.
The tournament was a success in my book, and we got to watch some awesome golf.
Until Pebble Beach next year for the 2027 US Open, which I already have my doubts about.
