- Hollywood icons Costner and Demi Moore make Cannes comeback
- Pacers shoot down Knicks to reach NBA Eastern Conference finals
- Schauffele birdies final hole, captures first major at PGA Championship
- McLaughlin powers to Indy 500 pole in all-Penske front row
- Monaco footballer tapes over LGBTQ badge
- Korda wins sixth LPGA title of year with win at Liberty National
- Pacers put on shooting show to down Knicks, reach NBA Eastern Conference finals
- US envoy touts 'potential' of Israel-Saudi deal in Netanyahu talks
- Dominicans vote for president in poll overshadowed by Haiti crisis
- Brest secure Champions League qualification, PSG win without Mbappe
- Mbappe absent as PSG win final Ligue 1 game
- Still exhausted after arrest, Scheffler closes with 64 at PGA
- Brest secure historic Champions League qualification
- France's Macron calls fresh emergency on New Caledonia unrest
- Taiwan swears in new president as China pressure grows
- Schauffele leads as dramatic PGA back-nine battle begins
- Biden faces silent Gaza protest at Martin Luther King Jr's college
- Ten Hag says Man Utd 'must do everything' to win FA Cup after Premier League flop
- Cannes film follows Egypt feminists on brink of adulthood
- Pep Guardiola: Man City manager addicted to winning
- Jackson wins season opener in Marrakesh with all eyes on Paris
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- Man City make case to be ranked as England's greatest-ever team
- Hamdy gives Zamalek second CAF Confederation Cup title
- Rome champion Zverev eyes French Open but wary of Djokovic 'at his best'
- Spain recalls its ambassador to Argentina over 'insult'
- Real Sociedad reach Europa League, Cadiz relegated
- Man City's six Premier League titles in seven years 'insane': Guardiola
- Dramatic last-round showdown under way at PGA Championship
- It may take 100 points to stop Man City, says Arsenal boss Arteta
- Arteta has Arsenal primed for success despite title pain
- Klopp hails 'superpower' fans in emotional Liverpool farewell
- Intense search for Iran's President Raisi after helicopter 'accident'
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- Hamilton says Mercedes in 'no man's land'
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- 'We want more than this': Arteta urges Arsenal to respond after title pain
- Five reasons why Man City won the Premier League
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- Hyderabad finish second after last IPL league match washed out
- Winning feeling never gets old for Man City 'sniper' Foden
- Man City win historic fourth straight Premier League title
- Haaland wins second Premier League Golden Boot
- Arsenal's title dreams dashed despite last-day win over Everton
- Foden fires Man City to record fourth consecutive Premier League title
- Zverev beats Jarry to claim second Rome Open title
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US Open champion Clark defends breakthrough title at Quail Hollow
US Open champion Wyndham Clark is looking back on a "crazy" year since his breakthrough PGA Tour title at Quail Hollow and focusing on the first title defense of his career.
"It's my first chance to defend. I don't know what that's like, so it has been exciting," Clark said Wednesday as he prepared to tee off Thursday in the Wells Fargo Championship, the sixth of the US PGA Tour's eight $20 million Signature events, which feature smaller fields and no halfway cut.
Now ranked third in the world, Clark was ranked 163rd when he arrived last year at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he out-dueled Olympic champion Xander Schauffele in a back-nine battle on Sunday to win his first career title by four strokes.
He would go on to win his first major title at the US Open and he set a Pebble Beach course record 60 on the way to victory in a weather-shortened Pebble Beach Pro-Am triumph in February.
Clark said his rise over the past year has been "humbling and fun."
"In 12 months, yeah, it's crazy to think I jumped that many spots and have a few wins under my belt now," Clark said. "I'm just really looking to continue to grow and get better. I like to think this is just the beginning, and hopefully it's the start of a lot of really good golf in the future years."
The 30-year-old from Colorado will be up against an elite field led by world number two Rory McIlroy, who won the title in 2010, 2015 and 2021.
McIlroy is coming off a victory alongside Ireland's Shane Lowry in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans PGA Tour team event.
"I think it freed me up a little bit," McIlroy said of playing in the unusual format, with a partner to take on some of the Sunday pressure.
"I've had a pretty slow start to the season, especially over here in the States," he added. "I felt like I needed something like that to get me going and hopefully that's the case."
Seven of the world's top 10 and seven past champions are in the field, including two-time winner Max Homa.
The most notable absentee is world number one Scottie Scheffler, who won a second Masters title and followed up with a win at the RBC Heritage last month.
Scheffler, winner of four of his last five starts, opted out of this final tuneup for next week's PGA Championship as he and his wife, Meredith, await the birth of their first child.
World number six Ludvig Aberg withdrew with a knee injury.
Fourth-ranked Schauffele, who played on the victorious US Presidents Cup team at Quail Hollow in 2022, is hoping to break through for a win after seven top-10 finishes this season.
"I'd say I haven't really been able to get everything together at once, which is sort of the story for every tour pro, so still working on that bit," Schauffele said.
Officials and the 69-player field were bracing for severe weather, with thunderstorms expected to move in on Wednesday night and perhaps linger through the first and second rounds on Thursday and Friday.
R.Adler--BTB