Wyndham Clark (-10) wins U.S. Open by 1 shot for his 1st career major

LOS ANGELES — When Wyndham Clark was a child, his mother, Lise, liked to put notes of encouragement in his book bag. The notes might have been a source of embarrassment for Clark back then, but he certainly wishes his mother was around to see what he accomplished on Sunday.

Clark, who was ranked 293rd in the Official World Golf Ranking a year ago and had never finished better than a tie for 75th in a major championship, held off Rory McIlroy, world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler and Rickie Fowler in the final round to win the 123rd U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.

Clark, from Denver, carded an even-par 70 on Sunday. His 10-under total of 270 was one stroke better than McIlroy, who failed to end a nearly nine-year drought without a major championship.

Clark opened up a three-shot lead over McIlroy with four holes to play. Then Clark made back-to-back bogeys to trim it to one. McIlroy could manage no better than par in his final five holes, leaving Clark to win it on his own.

On the par-4 18th hole, Clark hit his tee shot down the right side of the fairway. His second shot was short of the green, leaving him 59 feet, 9 inches to the hole. With a gallery of hundreds of fans gathering on the fairway behind him, he calmly two-putted for the victory. He buried his head in his hands and hugged his caddie, John Ellis.

With early mistakes knocking Fowler and Scheffler out of the hunt, it was a two-man battle down the stretch between Clark and McIlroy, a four-time major winner. Clark, 29, had made the cut in two majors before this week. But after picking up his first PGA Tour victory at the Wells Fargo Championship five weeks ago, Clark’s confidence swelled. He came into the week vowing to be “cocky.”

Clark was that and more over the final 18 holes. He became only the fourth…