The US Open championship was living proof that it’s the GAME of golf we follow.
Not just about the stars of the game.
Oh, we like the big names to contend and be there down the stretch – and there were many of those last week in LA- but if someone we really never heard of came out on top, we were thrilled just the same.
When Wyndham Clark broke down after his tap-in on 18 to win the 123rd US Open, the emotions poured out of him – and from us.
It was a heroic triumph for the 29-year old from Colorado, who held off the likes of Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and comeback kid Rickie Fowler.
But the gripping hug of his caddie John Ellis, a former pro golfer himself, and his look to the heavens honoring his Mom who died of breast cancer 10 years ago, had us all eating out of his hand.
Sure, there may be the stories of the amazing upstarts from Florida who eventually succumbed to superior teams in the NBA and NHL Stanley Cup finals, but nothing can match the relative unknown who conquered the game in one of its major championships.
That’s also why whatever comes out of the PGA-LIV circus, it’s about the game, and not the stars.
It was only as month ago that Clark won his first PGA tournament.
Before last week, he had only played in six majors, missing the cut in four of them, with his best finish, a tie for 75th in the 2021 PGA Championship.
He started the day in the final pairing tied with Fowler for the lead at 10-under, with McIlroy trailing by only one stroke.
Were it not for Rory’s nine-year failure to close the deal in a major championship, you would have figured it was the Irishman’s for the taking.
But it didn’t happen. The Rory story goes on and on like a needle stuck on a record on one of those back-in-the-day record players.
This time it was not the same as the McIlroy final round collapses we have seen in recent years.
He played terrific golf, hitting fairways, then greens-in-regulation like a machine.
But he couldn’t make the putts. McIlroy either didn’t get close enough for a real good look at a birdie, or failed to convert the more makeable attempts.
He birdied the first, and that was it.
Meanwhile, Wyndham Clark played as if he were there before.
Facing the pressure of the final round and meeting it head-on.
He played the final round with an even-par 70 to finish 10-under, one shot better than McIlroy.
Clark’s mother Lisa died at age 55 from breast cancer. He was at the University of Oregon at the time, and his anger took over. It lasted through college and into the start of his professional career.
So Lisa was obviously in the forefront of his mind as he competed over the four-day event.
He was paired with Rickie Fowler for the last two rounds, and when it was over, Fowler congratulated him and said, “Your mom was with you. She’d be very proud.”
Fowler was clearly the story from the get-go. After sinking to the golfing depths the past three years, the man who is truly liked by virtually everyone connected with the sport: player, fan, media, staged a heart-warming renaissance that dominated the headlines going into the final day.
For Rickie Fowler, who shot a first-round 62, best ever in the US Open, it was case of too many bogeys, seven in the final round, 18 overall, that did him in.
He wound up tied for fifth. Scottie Scheffler, always one to watch, never actually threatened the lead, and placed third.
But if Fowler is back to anything like his previous form, it is good news for the pro golf tour.
A couple of side notes.
Two of the competitors voiced criticism of the Los Angeles Country Club venue.
It was held right in the heart of LA. But the golf course located in tinsel town didn’t have the glitz. It was a low key site, where the members were against holding the Open. Brooks Koepka, fresh off his PGA title, said he was not “a fan of the golf course”.
Matt Fitzpatrick didn’t think the “atmosphere” was conducive to a US Open.
Funny, negative thoughts voiced, are usually by players who are not playing well.
My advice to them: play better.
There were also comments early on that the championship would produce scores that were generally too low, perhaps not worthy of a course suited for a major.
But no one broke the bank from the first round to the finish.
It was a competitive, fair venue. No golfer was able to dominate the course and take control.
Then was the television coverage.
Watching like everyone else, I was disappointed at some of the commentary.
I have not become an armchair critic since my retirement.
I believe people do an outstanding job in what they do.
But I have railed against too much talk in every sport. I felt that way before I went to the sidelines.
I try not to name names, but Paul Azinger was NBC’s chief expert-analyst, and he and some of his colleagues were guilty of killing a good deal of the drama of the final round with many of their comments.
I remember the late legendary CBS golf producer-director Frank Chirkinian who was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame after leading that network’s coverage for 37 years.
He oversaw coverage of the Masters Tournament for nearly four decades and was uncompromising in his approach to directing the sport.
He insisted that no one should comment on a shot that was in the air. Ever.
We all know when we play in our games, what looks to be one thing, may turn out to be altogether different.
But the NBC crew often talked of shots that hadn’t landed and were often wrong in their assessment.
I also feel that too many statistics, probabilities and even added information were distracting and unsettling.
It took on a feeling of nervous chatter.
That was the case in my view.
Nothing beats the sights and sounds of any sports event.
No words are needed most of the time.
Just tell us what we need to know.
I just wanted to get that off my chest.
But in looking back, the name linked to this year’s US Open was Wyndham Clark.
But the game was golf. That’s why we watch.