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Wyndham Clark entered Saturday’s third round at the 2026 U.S. Open with a four-shot lead, and after it became clear early in the day that Shinnecock Hills Golf Club was playing much harder than the first two days, all eyes were on how the 36-hole leader would handle a tougher test.
The answer was better than everyone but two players in the field, as his even-par 70 was more than enough, as he opened up a six-shot advantage over the field going into Sunday’s final round. With only two players — Emiliano Grillo (67) and Scottie Scheffler (69) — breaking par, all Clark needed to do was tread water, and he did so in thrilling fashion.
Clark got off to an inauspicious start, making a three-putt bogey on the 1st that signalled nerves might come into play. His lead was trimmed to two, and with the 2nd and 3rd playing as two of the hardest holes on the golf course, there was a real chance for him to open the door for the chase pack behind him. Instead, he steadied himself with three straight pars and extended his lead back to three with a birdie on the 5th.
Things started to teeter again on the 8th hole when he found the right bunker from 117 yards out in the fairway, calling it “the worst shot of my life.”
That led to his second bogey of the day, and the confidence he displayed on the first few days with his ball-striking began to dissipate. However, while he tried to get himself settled with his swing, he was able to do what no one else could on Saturday — consistently scramble for pars. Throughout the course, players were struggling to hit putts from outside 4 feet, as the USGA increased green speeds and heavy winds early in the morning dried the greens out considerably, reducing friction and making them tough to judge.
Clark avoided those issues and managed to grind out pars, first with a two-putt from 73 feet on the 9th, then with an up-and-down from over the green on the 10th — a spot that was almost an auto-bogey for most of the field. Finally, he got up and down from the bunker short and right of the treacherous 11th, dripping in a ticklish 5-footer down the hill.
After a more straightforward par on the 12th, he again found himself in trouble on No. 13. He initially pulled iron on the short par 4 but opted to try and drive the green instead. He sprayed his drive into the right fescue and could only get the ball to the bunker short, ultimately leaving a 14-footer for par. Once again, Clark stepped up and poured it in.
While Clark was scrambling his way around Shinnecock, his top competitors were struggling to keep up. Rory McIlroy made a front-nine charge to reach 2 under, but came home with five bogeys on his back nine, unable to produce the same kinds of up-and-downs Clark was. Scottie Scheffler caught fire in the middle of his back nine with three consecutive birdies from No. 14 to No. 16, but that included failing to pay off a 13-footer for eagle on the 16th after what looked, at the time, like the shot of the tournament — and then he closed bogey-par, with a missed 5-footer for birdie at the last.
Clark birdied the 14th and gave it back with a bogey on the 15th, finally missing one of those 5-footers like everyone else. On the 16th, he had the exact same number Scheffler did, 275 yards, and one-upped the world No. 1 by stuffing a cutting 3 wood inside 5 feet, which he naturally cashed in for his eagle, the first of the week on No. 16.
Eight holes after hitting the self-proclaimed worst shot of his life, he’d pulled off arguably the best of his career to open up a seven-stroke lead. With that performance, Clark has set up a final round where his only real opponent will be himself. He will be paired with Scheffler, who will do his best to apply some pressure, but Sunday will be all about Clark — as was the case on Saturday.
His final two holes offered a glimpse at the high-wire act he may perform on Sunday. He parred the 17th after a double cross into the right fescue off the tee, getting a break by landing near a camera tower and getting relief. Then on the 18th, he missed the fairway to the right and couldn’t two-putt from the front of the green, dropping a shot at the last to keep him from scoring in red figures for the third straight day.
If course conditions are anything like they were on Saturday afternoon, Clark will once again be asked how many times he can hold his nerve on the greens. So far this week, he has done that better than anyone in the field, and when presented with opportunities to attack, no one has been better at converting those into birdies and eagles.
We know what Clark’s mantra will be on Sunday as he chases his second U.S. Open title, because we hear it from his caddie before every shot: “Alright, good process.” That process will be put to the ultimate test on Sunday because even with the world No. 1 chasing, the only way he loses a six-shot lead is if he beats himself.
2026 U.S. Open leaderboard breakdown, Round 3
1. Wyndham Clark (-7): Not all 70s are created equal, and all things considered, this has to be one of the best even-par rounds of Clark’s life. He was given every opportunity to fumble his lead and bring a whole lot of players into the mix on Sunday. Instead, he made it so it’s going to be all about him and forced the rest of the field to take on an incredible amount of risk to try and shoot a number to chase him down.
T2. Scottie Scheffler, Sahith Theegala, Tom Kim, Sam Stevens (-1): Scheffler shot the second-best round of the day, but he needed it to be more. He opened with two bogeys, then settled himself down with seven straight pars, but once he turned to the back, he caught fire. A birdie on the 10th, which gave players fits all day, kick-started his run, and then he chipped in on the 14th to light a fire for himself and the crowd on Long Island.
He backed that up with birdies on No. 15 and No. 16, but that third birdie came from a 13-foot eagle putt that he couldn’t get to drop. A bogey on the 17th and a short miss for birdie on the 18th prevented him from really applying heat to Clark, and now he is in a position where he needs to go nuclear on Sunday or get some serious help from a Clark meltdown — or both.
The rest of the group at 1 under are not names anyone anticipated being in the mix to start the week. Stevens was in solo second for most of the day, but a rough start to the back nine dropped him down the leaderboard, and while he dug in to salvage a decent round, he had a chance to be the man in that final pairing with Clark. Kim and Theegala likewise spent most of the day just holding on, which is better than most could say on Saturday at Shinnecock. It’s been quite some time since either was a factor at a major, and while a win would require something incredible, they are both in position for a much-needed strong major finish.
T6. Emiliano Grillo, Keith Mitchell, Sam Burns, Xander Schauffele (E): Grillo’s 67 is, in hindsight, one of the best rounds anyone’s played all week. If he can play like that again tomorrow, he’ll have a great shot at a finish inside the top 4, which comes with a $1 million-plus payday. Mitchell has a chance on Sunday to be the only player in the field to neither shoot a round over nor under par this week, as he’s got three straight 70s — including Thursday’s wild 41-29 — which in the U.S. Open is good enough for a top 10 finish.
Burns and Schauffele had higher hopes for Saturday than sliding back to even par. Schauffele was derailed by a pair of double bogeys on the back nine, and while he clawed back to even late, it looks like his chances at his first U.S. Open have been dashed. Burns made one birdie and two bogeys in a round that was very familiar to a lot of players today, as it was just tough to score in those conditions.
T10. Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick (+1): Fitzpatrick opened his day with three straight bogeys in the final pairing, and while he was able to mostly right the ship from there, that was too much early damage to overcome. Morikawa likewise struggled, failing to make a bogey on his way to a 73, while Fleetwood flirted with an under-par round before a closing bogey put him in the clubhouse with a 70.
T17. Rory McIlroy and 11 others (+3): When McIlroy made the turn, he was 2 under and riding a wave of positive momentum, but it all came apart on the back nine as he made five bogeys to post a 73 and end his chances at a seventh major title. He got sloppy with his distance control and couldn’t make a putt of consequence to stop the rot, and by the time he walked off the 18th green, he was well aware his hopes of a second U.S. Open title were shot.