Why I found the US Open final round so engrossing

Wyndham Clark is our 2026 US Open champ, adding to his victory back in 2023 to claim his second major title. 

I was glued to the final round coverage last night, having watched a fair amount of the first and second rounds. I actually didn’t watch any of the third round - but was keeping track of the scores. With so much football on the TV at the moment, I felt I had to give Mrs Golf a break from sport on Saturday night. 

Usually, for me, I need to have a golfer I really like to be in contention during any golf tournament for me to be really sucked in, whether that’s Rory, Fleetwood, or Hatton to name a few. But last week, as I usually do with the majors, I had a little flutter on the golf. For majors I pick four golfers and usually put £5 each way and that’s my limit as generally speaking I am not a 'gambler'.

My selections for the US Open were Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele and Sam Burns. 

At one stage - bar Reed who missed the cut - the remaining three were all looking good for a top five finish. Obviously, Burns being the closest contender. 

So, coming down the stretch, with Clark falling back and Burns charging up the leaderboard, things got a lot more interesting for me and I was invested that much I didn’t take my eyes off it. Burns narrowly missed putts on 17 and 18 that would have made things INCREDIBLY interesting, but I think the outrageous birdie Clark made on 16 after hitting it in the left rough off the tee was the final nail in Burns' coffin. Clark looked like a dead cert for a bogey on the long par 5, but credit to him for hacking it out, hitting the green in three and holing a treacherous putt for his birdie - a lesson to be learnt there for all of us I feel. 

I did manage to be in profit for the week - a £6.50 profit, in fact, courtesy of Burns' second place finish - but that’s not why I do it. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the small wager, I probably would have turned it off with six or seven holes to go. 

As a disclaimer, gambling can be dangerous, set yourself limits within your affordability and remember, when the fun stops, stop. 

How About This For a Week of Golf?

Now, how about my own golf last week...

I had a beautiful day out at Centurion Club last week, I won’t go into detail about it too much as you can read about it in more depth here. Whilst it’s a fairly exclusive club, they are open to taking new members, whether as an individual or corporate membership, so that might be worth a look. It’s a pristine golf course with world class facilities that knows how to look after people. I really was impressed with it. 

There is plenty of golf this week too. 

Today (Monday) is a great day in the golfing calendar. Regional Open Qualifying. There is probably not a golf fan on the land that doesn’t know or have a connection with someone in Open Qualifying today. Whether it’s a YouTuber such as Peter Finch, Rick Shiels or Jimmy Bullard, someone you follow on social media, or your club professional or coach. 

Those of you that read these weekly columns regularly will know of my coach Sam Forgan, who tees it up at Gog Magog in Cambridge this afternoon looking to make it through to Final Qualifying - which he famously achieved back in 2021 when he played in The Open at Royal St George’s. So, good luck to all those bidding to make it through. 

On Wednesday, I get the chance to watch Sam up close as I have offered to caddie in a PGA event which just happens to be 15 minutes up the road from me. I have never caddied before so I'm looking forward to it, despite the forecast 35-degree heat - hopefully we will be doing that off the back of some good news today. 

Thursday is my next open event of 2026 - the Silver Barrel at Ipswich (Purdis Heath) Golf Club. It is one of my favourite courses that I know pretty well and a course I have scored well around and also done well in this event previously, but again, the plan for the day will be to stay hydrated as best as possible as 36 holes of medal on a scorching day is going to be physically challenging. 

Then as we head into the weekend it’s the first round of The Suffolk Amateur at Bury St Edmunds. This is technically a three-round event, but the first round for me is on Saturday with a 12pm tee time, but only the top 30 make it to rounds two and three on Sunday. I have never made it to the Sunday before, so that will be a goal I have in my mind, but it will be a tough ask in a strong field. 

So, a busy week is coming up. I hope many of you get a chance to get out and play or practice some golf, remember to be safe in the heat this week, plenty of fluids and lots of suncream please!