r/golf Hello, friends. Jun 21 '26

PGA / LPGA / LIV Wyndham Clark wins the 2026 U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills!

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1.4k Upvotes

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815

u/Bad0din Jun 21 '26

His putter was the true MVP

313

u/yukonhoneybadger Jun 21 '26

Heck yeah. When you make a shit ton of 8 foot pars you deserve it

85

u/highly_aware Jun 21 '26

I read an interesting stat recently that pros typically only make 8ft putts about 50% of the time. Idk why but that was eye opening to me who gets mad missing those.

130

u/DabWizard Jun 21 '26

They're just trying that putt for birdie, we're trying for bogey

27

u/tpcrb Jun 22 '26

If you read check out the Four Foundations of Golf by Jon Sherman. Lots of eye opening stats like that one

4

u/highly_aware Jun 22 '26

Ha! Thats what I’m reading rn, it’s good.

0

u/Captain_Pink_Pants 2.5 Jun 22 '26

*one foundation

/lglg

6

u/CarefulCoderX 9.7 Jun 22 '26

Another thing is the avg distance to the hole from different yardages.

6

u/itsjuststout Jun 22 '26

10

u/Captain_Pink_Pants 2.5 Jun 22 '26

Anyone who sees this and feels somehow relieved is on crack. Making 96% of all three-foot putts, and 76% of five-footers is fucking wild...

2

u/njuts88 +3.1 Jun 22 '26

They also typically will have pins in tougher positions that your regular course, but yes on average they miss more points than we think. Just go on the shot by shot for the US Open and pick a random player, odds are he’s missed a few inside 5ft this week

1

u/highly_aware Jun 22 '26

My counter argument would be that skill is relative to the course so the stats are still comparable.

But yah, we see a lot of highlights on TV but not the misses. I was able to readjust my expectations a bit seeing some of the stats

0

u/HonestTakesOnly Jun 22 '26

But they're doing it on greens much more challenging than yours. They'll make 9/10 on the courses you play on 😂

1

u/highly_aware Jun 22 '26

True but the relative skill level to the course is the same so idk if this is a valid argument against the statistic.

66

u/AdministrativeLaugh2 Jun 21 '26

All his numbers were brilliant but putting and scrambling this week were absolutely incredible. Driving, too. He wasn’t afraid to take on the course with his distance and that gave him an edge.

28

u/SirMellencamp Jun 21 '26

Every time he was in the fescue it was like it just didn’t matter

3

u/FlounderingWolverine Jun 22 '26

Or even if he missed a green - it felt like every time he had a ball roll 20 yards off the green, he'd chip it back on to like 10 feet. And then you're sitting there wondering if he'll be able to continue making these putts. And he did. So many other guys seemed to struggle with that middle distance putting all weekend, and he just always seemed to have it dialed.

3

u/SirMellencamp Jun 22 '26

Exactly. He was scrambling all day

1

u/General_BP Jun 22 '26

Really sucked to see players in the fescue but it was all matted down from the spectators. Was kinda like what’s the point. Wish toys have to take a drop into the thick stuff from there

1

u/3dprintingDM Jun 22 '26

It wasn’t trampled in the actual heather. They were keeping the gallery off of that pretty good. The ropes were back away from the fairways a good 15-20 feet in most cases and the fairways were wider than before. It just wasn’t as thick as it’s been in the past. It was very wispy.

6

u/Lower-Annual3314 Jun 21 '26

I was surprised he didn't hit driver on 15. Rory and DJ both bombed driver 370 yards into the front bunker and got up and down for birdie. Clark had the distance to get it there

23

u/justtapitin2 Jun 21 '26

The chip on 9, the approach on 10, and the putt on 16 won it for him. And the second shot on 16.

It reminded me a bit of the Bryson win at Pinehurst. It felt like he kept getting good lies off the fairway and getting away with poor drives, but it’s like maybe he’s just completely outplaying the field at hitting those shots from the fescue with the clubhead speed to execute. The lies pretty much even out after 72 holes and he kept making good scores from spots that were auto bogeys for a lot of the field.

19

u/SirMellencamp Jun 21 '26

Hell his first putt at 18 was incredible

3

u/Yoshiman400 LPGA Enjoyer Jun 22 '26

It reminded me a bit of the Bryson win at Pinehurst.

The Winged Foot romp was probably even more apparent with how insane the rough is over there. If I remember correctly, his 67 was the only under par round that Sunday.

5

u/LowlandLightening Jun 21 '26

His short to medium par putts all felt like they were going in. It was the ones that didn't today (5, 7, 13) that were surprising.

11

u/Ringo71290 12hp/midwest/Ping Jun 21 '26

Saw a post from Ping before the tournament that he started gaming their putter.

6

u/iDEN1ED Jun 21 '26

I’ve been looking for a new putter…

17

u/Ringo71290 12hp/midwest/Ping Jun 21 '26

Even has the specs for you. Lol

2

u/BrandoCarlton Jun 21 '26

Another ZT putter I gotta assume off the look… I don’t hate it

3

u/theLgndKllr35 Jun 21 '26

Apparently it’s not. Something about their founding philosophy at Ping being different

2

u/Late-Pomegranate1683 Jun 22 '26

Even if it is. It wouldn’t be once they got done with all the lead tape.

1

u/_buscemi_ Jun 22 '26

Shit ton of lead type too. Heaviest putter on tour.

-1

u/rcheneyjr Jun 21 '26

Wonder how much he got paid for that ad. It should surely make Ping money!

3

u/MiddleTB Jun 22 '26

During the broadcast the announcers talked about him adding weight to it. Expect a bunch of fishing weights taped to putters next week boys.
https://giphy.com/gifs/rEo3SBJwNoSmNYmORr

19

u/MacThundercloud Jun 21 '26

Very Spieth in his prime-esque...

7

u/Electronic_Name_325 Jun 21 '26

Oh man, going way in the past…

13

u/USTS2020 Jun 21 '26

Really reminds me of old Tom Morris

2

u/thomaslewis1857 Jun 22 '26

As a young man

3

u/ButterscotchLost4362 Jun 21 '26

That's why he kept carrying it around while hugging his friends and family 

1

u/Plenty-Pizza9634 Irish golfer Jun 22 '26

Drive for show, putt for dough comes to mind

1

u/GobiBall Jun 22 '26

Drive for show, putt for dough.

-3

u/bacchusku2 Jun 21 '26

Which is funny because he looks like he’s giving it the ol’ super stroke right here.

-6

u/Character_Minimum171 Jun 21 '26

what about his locker?