'New York Didn't Really Like Me' - Wyndham Clark Reacts To Hostile Shinnecock Hills Crowd At US Open

Wyndham Clark went wire-to-wire at Shinnecock Hills this week to land his second US Open title, but he did so without the support of his fellow Americans at Shinnecock Hills.

After his poor behavior at Oakmont last year, where he caused damage to the locker room, it's safe to say Clark had a lot of making up to do in the world of golf.

He's apologized plenty, and some would argue Clark is now simply misunderstood. Others haven't let the grudge go, and the crowd at Shinnecock let him know how they feel.

In particular during the final round on Sunday, it felt like the whole crowd wanted Clark to fail. Fans were removed for their antics, while the overall anti-Wyndham Clark agenda was disgraceful at times.

Clark doesn't seem to mind right now, though. Winning the Major championship obviously helps, and he wasn't afraid to address the situation when speaking immediately after his round on the course.

Explaining his win and how the atmosphere felt, Clark said: "It comes down to just believing good things are going to happen... it's been a grind these last two or three days and I haven't played the prettiest golf.

"New York didn't really like me. But I love you guys. And I get it. Some of it is deserved. I did some unfortunate things last year that I really regret and I've been sorry multiple times.

"Hopefully I can win you guys over eventually. I get it, they were rooting for Scottie, Grand Slams don't happen often but he will get it. Today is my day."

In his press conference afterwards, Clark delved deeper into that hostility from the home crowd, adding: "Man, they definitely didn't want me to win. It's pretty rare in an Open Championship or a major to have fans boo against your shots or cheer for bad shots.

"That was tough, but sometimes being the underdog is nice... Anytime someone said something negative to me, I replaced it with something positive.

"I'm proud of myself that I battled through. Things really could have gotten away from me. I stood tough. I would have liked to have won by more, but as long as you win, it doesn't matter."

Reflecting on his triumph and how much it means in the grand scheme of things, Clark compared the first and second of his US Open wins and discussed how they came at very different stages of his life and career.

"The first one was kind of just the breakthrough of knowing I could do it," he said. "This one was more of a redemption. Last year was a tough, terrible year. I left [Oakmont] in shambles but it's amazing what a year can do. I'm leaving here as champion and I am so blessed."

The victory was always Clark's to lose, but he did have a couple of scary moments where it almost slipped away from him.

Asked about the biggest instances of adversity out there on Sunday, Clark replied: "I think the bogey on 5 was just horrendous. We were trying to hit the shot we wanted to into the green, which is laying short and run up. It just flew 10 yards too far and obviously put me in a bad spot. So that was very challenging.

"Then, to bogey 17 was definitely a little bit of a shock. I have to give credit to Dave [Pelekoudas]. He said, 'hey, we're right where we want to be. Yeah, it sucks that happened, but we have a one-shot lead going into 18. We'd take this on Wednesday night, we would have said we would have taken this.' And then we executed [the plan]."