Wyndham Clark won the US Open golf thanks to mother Lise-Corriere.it

«Play big», «Play big». That was Mama Lise’s mantra when Wyndham Clark he was still very young and was taking his first steps in the world of golf. Now that he has won the US Open, the first Major of his career, the 29-year-old knows he has finally met the high expectations his mother had for him. Died at 54 from breast cancer in 2013, when Wyndham was not even 20, Lise would have been very happy to see how her son beat her, overturning all the odds, the very favorites of the eve Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler.

Clark took his most important success in one of the most anticipated competitions of the season, one of the four majors pursued every year by the best golfers on the planet, now in its 123rd edition. On the North Course of the Los Angeles Country Clubthe golfer from Denver was better than his formidable rivals with his -10 (64-67-69-70), because McIlroy stopped at -9, Scheffler at -7 and the Australian Cameron Smith, fourth, at -6.

A sports victory that will also earn Clark 3.6 million dollars (about 3.3 million euros), compared to a total prize pool of twenty million (about 18.3 million euros, the highest in the history of the tournament) . After winning the Wells Fargo Championship last May, thanks to this very important success Clark is now fourth in the FedEx Cup and has rightfully become one of the candidates for the Ryder Cup in September. And to think that Los Angeles was only his seventh major played in his career, one of two in which he had never passed a cut up to this moment. His best finish was a 75th place at the 2021 PGA Championship. From 32nd, this is his place in the world ranking at the eve of the Major (just a year ago he was at 293rd), he leaps up to 13th and is ready to undermine the Top10.

In the name of mom

In a moment of glory like this, the memory of the mother and the words of encouragement she always had for her son come back strong. Clark recalled with the trophy in his arms how Lise had introduced him to golf when he was still a child. The champion had then thought of giving up his professional career precisely because of her death.

“I have imagined this moment a hundred times. It has finally arrived and I only owe it to my mother. She followed me from up there, I always felt her presence next to me », she declared after the award ceremony. “I miss him so much and I’m sorry I’m not here to share this joy.” Clark he then also indulged in other personal considerations, with anecdotes about his childhood. «Everyone made fun of me because as a child I was sensitive, I cried a lot and I always looked for hugs from my mother. We had a special relationship. I kept playing and for the last 2-3 years I felt like I could compete with the best, even though no one knew who I was yet. I was finally able to prove it.” The same Rickie Fowler, among the defeated champions, told him that «mother Lise was with him in every moment of the competition and that she would have been very proud of this victory». Who knows if other important successes will come, now that Clark has finally unlocked himself, also and above all in the memory of his mother Lise.