Wyndham Clark holds nerve to claim US Open title

American Wyndham Clark held his nerve to win his first major championship in the 123rd US Open as Rory McIlroy once again missed out on a fifth title.

Clark, a 120/1 outsider at the start of the week, carded a closing 70 at Los Angeles Country Club to finish 10 under par, a shot ahead of McIlroy.

McIlroy’s only birdie of his own 70 came on the opening hole and his sole bogey on the 14th helped give Clark the breathing space he needed to complete a hard-fought but deserved victory.

Dreams do come true ❤️ pic.twitter.com/p4MC6Ho037

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 19, 2023

The world number 32 only won his first PGA Tour title last month and had missed the cut in his previous two US Opens, while his best finish in any major was a tie for 75th in the 2021 US PGA.

In contrast, McIlroy has now recorded 19 top-10 finishes since winning the last of his four majors in the 2014 US PGA – a month after claiming the Open at Royal Liverpool, footage of which had influenced his somewhat conservative approach this week.

Starting the final round a shot off the lead, McIlroy made the ideal start with a two-putt birdie on the first and Clark did likewise, only for the American to three-putt the second.

Clark hit a superb approach to the par-three fourth and converted the birdie putt from five feet, before picking up another shot on the short sixth.

McIlroy missed from four feet for birdie on the par-five eighth, seemingly opening the door for Clark to extend his lead in the group behind.

But Clark found a bad lie in the tall rough with his approach and needed two attempts to escape before getting up and down from the back of the green to drop just one shot.

Another shot looked likely to go when Clark missed the ninth green and was faced with an