Wyndham Clark held off Rory McIlroy and created separation against playing partner and multi-day leader Rickie Fowler en route to capturing the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club on Sunday.
Clark’s finish of 10-under par 270 made him one of the biggest long shots to ever hoist the U.S. Open trophy.
Before the tournament started Thursday, Clark was 100-1 to win the event, according to Sports Odds History. Other books, like BetMGM, opened him 80-1. He was slashed down to 16-1 after shooting a 6-under par 64 in the opening round and then moved to 7-1 as he entered the weekend 9-under.
His pre-tournament odds were the longest for a U.S. Open winner since 2009 when Lucas Glover was 150-1. They also were the second-longest of the last 40 years, per Action Network.
And the public clearly wasn’t overly confident in Clark putting together a run similar to a cinderella sports team. Only 0.6% of bets were on the 29-year-old Clark to win before the tournament, according to BetMGM’s John Ewing.
