Wyndham Clark has been thoroughly transparent about his past transgressions. He’s addressed the locker room incident at Oakmont what feels like a thousand times now. His apologies weren’t always dripping in sincerity, but it’s clear at this point there is a genuine level of remorse.
But whatever Clark has said about that incident wasn’t enough to win over the thousands of New Yorkers who descended on Shinnecock Hills this weekend to witness the U.S. Open. The story of Sunday’s final round was equally about Clark, and the fan’s reactions to his all-but-inevitable win.
Reports on the ground Sunday indicated an openly hostile attitude towards the now two-time U.S. Open champion, with some in the gallery urging Clark’s shots to find the sand, roll off the greens, or burrow in the thick native areas that splatter the course. Any positive development for Clark was met with, at best, a muted response, to the point where his tournament-sealing lag putt on 18 felt more like Thursday afternoon than Sunday evening.
With the crowd, and Clark’s ability to overcome it, a focal point of Sunday’s final round, many in the media criticized fan behavior at Shinnecock Hills.
Over in the U.K., Sky Sports’ Jamie Weir went so far as to call New York fans “poisonous,” particularly in the wake of similarl behavior that crossed the line at last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
‘New York fans crossed the line’
Jamie Weir reflects on Wyndham Clark’s US Open triumph, where he suffered endless abuse by fans across the final round at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, New York. pic.twitter.com/M4TaIm8vUg
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) June 22, 2026
“I really felt for him during that final round, because [the] crowd were just disgusting,” Weir began. “I mean, it’s the second time in nine months that it’s crossed the line, and the other time was in Long Island, New York as well, at the Ryder Cup, which I witnessed at Bethpage last year. …I’ve never seen an American player, on American soil have to deal with what he had to deal with yesterday, and it did cross a line. And there are question marks as to whether you can even have tournaments in New York going forward, because New Yorkers are just poisonous.”
Weir wasn’t the only one to share these sentiments. After Clark secured his win, Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee similarly laid into the crowd at Shinnecock.
“I’ve never seen an American player on American soil get so jeered … I’ve never seen anybody have to deal with that element in a major championship to the extent that I saw him have to deal with it today.”
Brandel talks about the crowd’s reaction to Wyndham at the U.S. Open. pic.twitter.com/Z8EgH4RylM
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 21, 2026
“I think it was the worst I’ve ever seen a player treated,” Chamblee said. “I’ve never seen an American player on American soil get so jeered. …I’ve never seen anybody have to deal with that element in a major championship to the extent that I saw Wyndham have to deal with it today.”
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt also chimed in, noting that Wyndham “took more sh*t on home soil than players who have done far worse.”
He could, and should, have handled the situation(s) better. He was not the victim. At all.
That said, JFC, he’s an American who won this championship before and took more shit on home soil than players who have done far worse. Never saw anything like it, really.
Worse than…
— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) June 22, 2026
No one is trying to excuse Wyndham Clark’s past behavior, but it seems most in the media agree that whatever went down at Shinnecock on Sunday crossed a line. And in the context of September’s Ryder Cup down the road at Bethpage, New York golf fans have a lot of work to do before their own collective image can be reformed.
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