It wasn’t easy, but Colorado’s Wyndham Clark is a two-time U.S. Open champion.

Entering Sunday’s final roujnd with a six-shot lead, the Denver native grinded to a 73 to hold off Sam Burns and a rowdy New York crowd at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. Clark also won the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023.

“Man, I mean, the first one was amazing and this one seems even better,” Clark, who finished the tournament at 4-under par, told reporters. “I think especially after such a sour taste last year in this championship, to have some redemption and win this again is — I mean, it’s almost surreal.”

Clark already was the first major championship winner born in Colorado. Now he’s the first with two. He is also the 24th golfer to win multiple U.S. Open titles.

After mostly smooth sailing as Clark led the tournament from Thursday afternoon on, he struggled Sunday. He was 3-over par on his first nine before scoring his first birdie on the 10th hole.

All week Clark’s putter was his best club. That was even more true on the 16th hole Sunday as he drilled a birdie putt on the par 5 to extend his lead to two. A bogey on 17 tightened the margin, but a clutch par on the 18th closed out the win for Clark.

“To bogey 17 was definitely a little bit of a shock,” Clark said. “I have to give credit to Dave (his caddy). 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. Wednesday night we would have said we would have taken this. Yeah, then we executed.

The 32-year-old has been playing his best golf since 2023 as he won the CJ Byron Nelson in May and had high finishes at The Memorial and RBC Canadian Open.

He also got a big surprise after winning on Sunday. Clark’s dad, Randall, flew out on a redeye from Denver to see his son win on Father’s Day. Randall was unable to attend his son’s win in 2023.

“He’s never been there to see me win,” Clark said. “Not only that, to finally have him there for a win is amazing, but especially on Father’s Day. I know in ’23 it was obviously a great Father’s Day present for him, but I know he wanted to be there here in person.”

This time last year at Oakmont Country Club, Clark was making headlines for the wrong reasons when he smashed a locker at the famous club after missing the cut. He also had an incident months earlier at the PGA Championship where he threw his driver.

The Shinnecock crowd was clearly behind Scottie Scheffler and let Clark know how they felt about him leading the tournament. Clark has dealt with hostile crowds before as he has played in an away Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

“New York didn’t really like me — I love you guys,” Clark said at the closing ceremony. “But I get it. Some of it’s self-deserved. I did some unfortunate things last year that I really regret, and I’ve been sorry multiple times and I’m still sorry, so hopefully I can win you guys over eventually.”

Burns closed with a 67, his second chance in as many years to win the U.S. Open. He missed two birdie chances on the final two holes, and a three-putt bogey on the 15th crippled his chances when he was trying to catch Clark.

Scottie Scheffler, trying to claim the only major he hasn’t won, was three shots back when he three-putted from 30 feet to bogey the 14th. He shot 71.

“Being in the arena is not for everybody, and I think it shows a lot about Wyndham, how he handled not only this golf course but I think the crowd today as well and is a well-deserving champion,” Scheffler told reporters.

The Associated Press contributed this report.