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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – Julie Elion's game plan for client Wyndham Clark took into account fans being rowdy, and she expected there to be plenty of haters on Sunday, but not even she could have anticipated how mentally strong Clark would need to be to handle the crowd cheering for his mistakes during the final round of the 126th U.S. Open.
How bad was it? Elion, who has served as one the preeminent mental coaches in the game for the past 25 years, had to take a break from watching after the eighth hole and go in the clubhouse for a mental break of her own.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad behavior over the years, but I’ve never seen anything like that,” she said.
She wasn't alone. On Golf Channel's "Live From," Brandel Chamblee seconded Elion's take on the disgraceful fan behavior at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
"I've never seen an American player on American soil get so jeered," he said. "I've never seen anybody have to deal with that element in a major championship to the extent that I saw him have to deal with it today."
LIV Golf took most of golf’s biggest villains over the years and so fans of the PGA Tour have had to look harder for a player to root against. Clark made himself an easy target as the Tour's new heel after a series of boorish behaviors at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open last year went viral.
Clark acknowledges that fans turning on him was self-inflicted but it hasn’t made dealing with it any easier. He compared the final round to a road game and it began at the second hole when he tugged his tee shot left into trouble and the fans cheered as if it were a Ryder Cup match at Bethpage Black last October. At the fourth hole, a fan yelled, “Wyndham, don’t choke, buddy.” That fan was ejected from the championship but he wouldn’t be the last one to try to get into Clark’s head.
“I heard ‘Get in the bunker,’ about 50 times today from the gallery,” said Smylie Kaufman on Golf Channel. Of the Clark’s 60-yard pitch shot at No. 10 to 4 feet to set up his first birdie of the day, Kaufman said, “I barely heard a clap,” and added, “It was a bizarre scene.”
It was hard to tell at times whether the fans were rooting against Clark because they didn’t like him as a person or they just wanted to see a close contest given that Clark held a six-stroke lead entering the final round and seemed capable of sucking the drama out of a potentially memorable finish. It was probably a little of both. The best-case scenario they were rooting for was to see world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who was playing alongside Clark in the final pairing, make history by rallying to win his first U.S. Open and complete the career Grand Slam.
“New Yorkers, they are tough people. There was a good turnout from the fans. You like seeing the fans cheer for you. I think sometimes it can get a little too much when, you know, balls are kind of going off greens and you start hearing cheers. That felt a bit much to me,” Scheffler said. “Being in the arena is not for everybody, and I think it shows a lot about Wyndham, how he handled not only this golf course but I think the crowd today as well and is a well-deserving champion.”
Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, shared a longer than usual embrace with Clark on the 18th green after he had won and echoed Scheffler’s sentiment. “He went out of his way to say, ‘Hey, that took a lot of grit. No one was really pulling for you, and to battle through and win that was impressive,’” recalled Clark.
Elion has trained Clark to turn the negative into positive. She told him to think of a racehorse with blinders on and to stay in his lane.
“It’s not what happens to us; it’s how we respond to what happens,” Elion said she told him. “This is your rodeo! You create your own inner world of confidence and joy.”
Clark did his best to make the most of a difficult situation, cracking jokes with his caddie, Dave Pelekoudas, every time they heard someone cheer for hm
“I'd go, oh, there's one person that likes me,” Clark said.
If no one was going to cheer for him, Clark decided to cheer for himself when he holed a 25-foot birdie putt at 16, the longest putt he’d made in the last 34 holes.
“That was probably the loudest I've yelled for myself in golf," said Clark, who shot 3-over 73 and held on for a one-stroke win over Sam Burns and claim his second U.S. Open.
Asked if he thought this week might put an end to him being the player that golf fans love to root against on the PGA Tour, he said, “I sure hope it closes the door on it. I figured in my mind that this would maybe be the last time just because it's one year removed (from destroying the locker at Oakmont). I'll probably always get them, but I hope I don't become the heel of the PGA. I guess if I am, any press is good press, right?”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Wyndham Clark overcomes hostile fans at US Open 2026
Continue reading...
How bad was it? Elion, who has served as one the preeminent mental coaches in the game for the past 25 years, had to take a break from watching after the eighth hole and go in the clubhouse for a mental break of her own.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad behavior over the years, but I’ve never seen anything like that,” she said.
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She wasn't alone. On Golf Channel's "Live From," Brandel Chamblee seconded Elion's take on the disgraceful fan behavior at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
"I've never seen an American player on American soil get so jeered," he said. "I've never seen anybody have to deal with that element in a major championship to the extent that I saw him have to deal with it today."
LIV Golf took most of golf’s biggest villains over the years and so fans of the PGA Tour have had to look harder for a player to root against. Clark made himself an easy target as the Tour's new heel after a series of boorish behaviors at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open last year went viral.
Clark acknowledges that fans turning on him was self-inflicted but it hasn’t made dealing with it any easier. He compared the final round to a road game and it began at the second hole when he tugged his tee shot left into trouble and the fans cheered as if it were a Ryder Cup match at Bethpage Black last October. At the fourth hole, a fan yelled, “Wyndham, don’t choke, buddy.” That fan was ejected from the championship but he wouldn’t be the last one to try to get into Clark’s head.
“I heard ‘Get in the bunker,’ about 50 times today from the gallery,” said Smylie Kaufman on Golf Channel. Of the Clark’s 60-yard pitch shot at No. 10 to 4 feet to set up his first birdie of the day, Kaufman said, “I barely heard a clap,” and added, “It was a bizarre scene.”
It was hard to tell at times whether the fans were rooting against Clark because they didn’t like him as a person or they just wanted to see a close contest given that Clark held a six-stroke lead entering the final round and seemed capable of sucking the drama out of a potentially memorable finish. It was probably a little of both. The best-case scenario they were rooting for was to see world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who was playing alongside Clark in the final pairing, make history by rallying to win his first U.S. Open and complete the career Grand Slam.
“New Yorkers, they are tough people. There was a good turnout from the fans. You like seeing the fans cheer for you. I think sometimes it can get a little too much when, you know, balls are kind of going off greens and you start hearing cheers. That felt a bit much to me,” Scheffler said. “Being in the arena is not for everybody, and I think it shows a lot about Wyndham, how he handled not only this golf course but I think the crowd today as well and is a well-deserving champion.”
Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, shared a longer than usual embrace with Clark on the 18th green after he had won and echoed Scheffler’s sentiment. “He went out of his way to say, ‘Hey, that took a lot of grit. No one was really pulling for you, and to battle through and win that was impressive,’” recalled Clark.
Elion has trained Clark to turn the negative into positive. She told him to think of a racehorse with blinders on and to stay in his lane.
“It’s not what happens to us; it’s how we respond to what happens,” Elion said she told him. “This is your rodeo! You create your own inner world of confidence and joy.”
Clark did his best to make the most of a difficult situation, cracking jokes with his caddie, Dave Pelekoudas, every time they heard someone cheer for hm
“I'd go, oh, there's one person that likes me,” Clark said.
If no one was going to cheer for him, Clark decided to cheer for himself when he holed a 25-foot birdie putt at 16, the longest putt he’d made in the last 34 holes.
“That was probably the loudest I've yelled for myself in golf," said Clark, who shot 3-over 73 and held on for a one-stroke win over Sam Burns and claim his second U.S. Open.
Asked if he thought this week might put an end to him being the player that golf fans love to root against on the PGA Tour, he said, “I sure hope it closes the door on it. I figured in my mind that this would maybe be the last time just because it's one year removed (from destroying the locker at Oakmont). I'll probably always get them, but I hope I don't become the heel of the PGA. I guess if I am, any press is good press, right?”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Wyndham Clark overcomes hostile fans at US Open 2026
Continue reading...
