India, June 23 -- Wyndham Clark couldn't remember being in a darker place. He was publicly reviled for a moment of petulance when he smashed a locker at Oakmont after missing the cut in the US Open last year. His game, his reputation, he felt it all was slipping away.

Sunday at Shinnecock Hills wasn't much better. The New York crowd behind Scottie Scheffler in his bid for a career Grand Slam turned on Clark, cheering his misses and wishing for the worst.

That's what made this US Open title so much sweeter.

On the edge of the greatest collapse in US Open history, Clark held his nerve against a charge by Sam Burns and a Shinnecock Hills crowd that never gave him much love until he showed his mettle with his second US Open title in four y...