Wyndham Clark Ignores The Silence, Wins The U.S. Open With Plenty Of Drama Down The Stretch

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Wyndham Clark co-led the U.S. Open heading into Sunday's final round, but you wouldn't have known it if you tuned into pre-round coverage ahead of the final 18 holes at Los Angeles Country Club. Tied with Rickie Fowler and with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler chasing, it's understandable for some to overlook Clark's name.

That's nothing new for Clark. Hell, it probably played to his advantage that nobody was giving him a chance on Sunday.

Clark has flown under the radar of just about everybody, even with his win at the Wells Fargo Championship a month ago, but found himself among the mix of some of the game's biggest names yet again, and delivered...again.

READ: US OPEN CO-LEADER WYNDHAM CLARK RIPS LATE TEE TIMES AT MAJOR TOURNAMENT

While the U.S. Open is a much different animal than the Wells Fargo, Clark was able to secure a four-shot win over the likes of Xander Schauffele, Tyrrell Hatton, Harris English, Adam Scott, and Tommy Fleetwood. He got his taste for winning in Charlotte and had an exceptional bite on Sunday in Los Angeles with his one-shot victory to win his first major championship.

Clark began his round just as he had to, with a birdie on the opening hole, but followed that up with a bogey. He found himself two-under for the day thru six holes, but was smacked with adversity with an ugly bogey on the Par 5 eighth, and the doors were blown open for those playing the role of chaser.

While there are plenty of shots as specific moments that stood out during Sunday's round, it's hard to overlook the way Clark played the Par 5 14th hole.

Clark was standing in the middle of the fairway having to watch the drama unfold with McIlroy on the 14th green. After what we can now label a catastrophic bogey for McIlroy, Clark had an opportunity to put his stamp on this championship.

And that's exactly what he did.

Faced with 280 yards into the Par 5, Clark didn't hesitate and pulled out the fairway wood to go for the Par 5 in two, which turned out to be the correct decision. He hit his go-to fade into the green and got the ball to land incredibly soft which then led to a comfortable two-putt birdie.

If that shot is hit by a Jon Rahm, Scheffler, or McIlroy we're all talking about one of the best shots in recent major championship history. Since it's Wyndham Clark, many will overlook it, but that shouldn't be the case whatsoever.

That was the definition of a golf shot.

Clark followed up the birdie on 14 with back-to-back bogeys, but answered the bell yet again with a pair of pars on the final two holes to secure the win.

While the casual golf fan will overlook this year's U.S. Open with the weird vibes at Los Angeles Country Club, and a 'weird' winner in Clark, that winner likely just punched his ticket onto the U.S. Ryder Cup team for this Fall's event in Italy.

It may have been easy to overlook Clark's name on the leaderboard, but that isn't the case whatsoever now.

Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.