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The American, Wyndham Clark won the 123rd edition of the U.S. Open, held at the Los Angeles Country Club in the City of Angels. After four days of grueling competition, the 29-year-old defeated the field of 156 golfers to win the first major championship in his professional career, on June 18, Sunday.
Before the start of play on day 4, the leader of the U.S. Open was Rickie Fowler of the USA at (-10), ahead of Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland at (-9). But, as the play progressed on Sunday, Wyndham Clark and the Northern Irishman emerged as two of the strongest contenders to win the tournament.
At the very end, it was the American at (-10), who held off the surging Rory McIlroy at (-9), to achieve victory at the U.S. Open.
With the biggest triumph of his professional career, Wyndham Clark bagged a massive payday for himself as well. He collected USD 3.6 million prize money after securing a one-shot victory over the Northern Irishman, who bagged USD 2.16 million as a consolation prize. The world number one golfer Scottie Scheffler from USA, finished in a lonely third place at (-7), securing USD 1.41 million in prize money.
This year, the total purse for the U.S. Open was USD 20 million, which is double the amount in comparison to the 2016 edition, at USD 10 million. Meanwhile, in 2023, the first two major championships in golf, namely the Masters and the PGA Championship had prize money of USD 18 million and 17.5 million respectively.
Notably, the last year’s winner of the U.S. Open, Matt Fitzpatrick, the British golfer, received USD 3.15 million in prize money, which is USD 450,000 lesser in comparison to this year’s champion.
