The US Open rarely springs a surprise winner. The ‘toughest’ test in golf presents, without exception, an exceptionally brutal obstacle course that participants must tackle for four days. It’s mostly a battle of attrition, and everyone emerges bruised and battered. The last man standing takes the honours. And that’s why it’s usually a toss-up amongst the best players in the world. Of course, there have been outliers: from Francis Ouimet in 1913 to Lucas Glover in 2009 and, to a degree, Graeme McDowell in 2010 — but they’re the exceptions that prove the rule. The underdog rarely makes the cut at the US Open.

That’s why when someone unheralded comes out of nowhere to shine on this stage and forges a win in the fire of the US Open, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment. So whether or not Michael Campbell breaks 80 again, he will always be the 2005 US Open Champion. And no one is likely to forget, either, how Wyndham Clark, a 29-year-old from Denver, Colorado, held his nerve, and game, together, to beat none other than Rory McIlroy by one stroke at the Los Angeles Country Club to win the 2023 US Open. Whether or not he wins anything again —although it’s likely he’ll do so again before the year is through — Clark is a champion for life.

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To be fair Clark isn’t a nobody — he was ranked 34th in the world going into the US Open (now he’s moved up to 13th). And he’s been in fine fettle, too: 2023 is by far the best year Clark has ever had on tour. He’d notched up five top-10s, including a solo fifth at the Valspar Championship and sixth at the Corales Puntacana Championship before teeing it up at the Wells Fargo Championship in April 2023. At that full-field event, Clark battled a world-class field and won. Even though one can assume he was running high on confidence, Clarks’ previous record at the Majors (two missed cuts in two career appearances) certainly gave no indication of what was to come.

The stats, however, tell the story. In 2023, Clark is 15th in strokes gained on the PGA Tour as well as fourth in driving distance. At the LACC, his was perhaps the most well-rounded game amongst all players. He ranked seventh in strokes gained off the tee (1.36); seventh in strokes gained in the short game (0.98); fourth in strokes gained putting (1.81); and seventh in driving distance (325.2 yards). Clark also duelled some of the best players in the world down the final stretch and didn’t crack.

It helped that the LACC, quite unlike most US Open venues, demanded a very different kind of play: bomb-and-gouge just didn’t cut it. The long-hitters certainly had an advantage, but many gave that right back — undone by tricky greens and blind shots that required imagination. The LACC saw players hit all kinds of shots, from a variety of lies, with pretty much every club in the bag. The LACC still got a fair bit of backlash, especially from the fans. With only 4,500 tickets available to non-members, the 22,000 fans who couldn’t get inside were not given a space to congregate to create a US Open atmosphere. You can’t do that with a National Championship, let alone the US Open.

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Post-championship thoughts must be spared for Rory McIlroy. What does one say about a man who has finished in the top eight in seven of the past nine majors, including two runners-up and a third? He didn’t make a birdie after the first hole on the final day. His putting wasn’t great, and he didn’t give himself many chances down the stretch. It’s been over nine years since McIlroy won his last Major — the 2014 PGA Championship. Arguably the one he cares about the most — the Open Championship — is next on the calendar, and McIlroy is the favourite by far. For the Ulsterman to return to Royal Liverpool for the Open Championship and win. Now that would be something worth the wait.

The biggest delight this year was provided by Rickie Fowler. It was fantastic to see one of the most entertaining and promising players in the game find his mojo after a couple of years out in the cold. Fowler led through three rounds but lost his way with the flat stick on Sunday. He appeared beat but defiant in the post-match presser. “I’ve learnt to deal with failure,” he said. “I can handle this…I’m feeling the best I ever have.” In golf, more than other sports it’s a player’s capacity to handle failure that defines their success, and Fowler seems like a sober, mature version of the player he was a few years back. So far he has got six top-10 finishes and leads the tour in strokes gained (total and on approach shots).

Fowler shot the lowest round in the tournament’s history, an eight-under-par 62, and that was matched by Xander Schauffele as well. It’s not just the lowest score in the event’s history but that of any Major. Fowler didn’t wear his trademark orange on the final day. Perhaps that’s not a tradition you want to break Rickie.

A round-up of the 2023 US Open wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the talented Justin Thomas. Thomas looked completely out of sorts, shooting a 4-over and 11-over to crash out of the Open. Thomas said it’s the lowest he has felt during his PGA Tour career. He said his scores were “humiliating and embarrassing.” Thomas has had just two top-10 finishes in 14 starts this season; he missed the cut at the Masters; tied for 65th at the PGA Championship; and then missed the cut at the US Open. And this is a man who won a Major Championship just last year. Golf is an enigma, even to those that play it the best.