LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Open wrapped up, as it always does, on Father’s Day. Golf’s newest champion would be the first to tell people he’s always been a mama’s boy.
Wyndham Clark’s victory Sunday will be remembered for how a 29-year-old newcomer to the big time held off some of the biggest names in the game to stamp a poignant exclamation mark on a U.S. Open that had been, to that point, kind of hard to love.
Clark’s mother, Lise, died of breast cancer in 2013 — a family tragedy that sent him spiraling. The win brought with it a chance to share memories, and a chance to reflect on the long road between then and now.
“I didn’t show any emotion off the course, but when I was on the golf course I couldn’t have been angrier,” Clark said of his state of mind when he first learned of his mom’s diagnosis. “I was breaking clubs when I didn’t even hit that bad of a shot. I was walking off golf courses.”
The road back led him to leave college at Oklahoma State for a fresh start at Oregon. It involved a relatively quick rise for an aspiring pro golfer, but one pushed off course by typical slumps and close calls that led to more than one crisis in confidence.